Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of associating or the state of being associated.
  • noun An organized body of people who have an interest, activity, or purpose in common; a society.
  • noun A mental connection or relation between thoughts, feelings, ideas, or sensations.
  • noun A remembered or imagined feeling, emotion, idea, or sensation linked to a person, object, or idea.
  • noun A correlation or causal connection.
  • noun Chemistry Any of various processes of combination, such as hydration, solvation, or complex-ion formation, depending on relatively weak chemical bonding.
  • noun Ecology A large number of organisms in a specific geographic area constituting a community with one or two dominant species.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In physical chemistry, the union of chemical molecules to form more complex aggregates; especially, the union of the molecules of a vapor to form more complex aggregates when the temperature is reduced nearly to the boiling-point, or when they condense into liquids.
  • noun In phytogeography, the aggregation of plant individuals initiated by reproduction on the spot of growth, but finally determined by environment. See formation and plant association.
  • noun A local aggregation of plants within a formation characterized more by the species which compose it than by any biological peculiarity.
  • noun The act of associating or the state of being associated. Connection of persons or things; union.
  • noun A union or connection of ideas. See association of ideas, below.
  • noun An organized union of persons for a common purpose; a body of persons acting together for the promotion of some object of mutual interest or advantage; a partnership, corporation, or society: as, the Association for the Advancement of Science; a political or charitable association.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of associating, or state of being associated; union; connection, whether of persons of things.
  • noun Mental connection, or that which is mentally linked or associated with a thing.
  • noun Union of persons in a company or society for some particular purpose. Specifically, as among the Congregationalists, a society, consisting of a number of ministers, generally the pastors of neighboring churches, united for promoting the interests of religion and the harmony of the churches.
  • noun (Physiol.) the combination or connection of states of mind or their objects with one another, as the result of which one is said to be revived or represented by means of the other. The relations according to which they are thus connected or revived are called the law of association. Prominent among them are reckoned the relations of time and place, and of cause and effect.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of associating.
  • noun The state of being associated; a connection to or an affiliation with something.
  • noun A group of persons associated for a common purpose; an organization; society.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a formal organization of people or groups of people
  • noun a social or business relationship
  • noun (ecology) a group of organisms (plants and animals) that live together in a certain geographical region and constitute a community with a few dominant species
  • noun the act of consorting with or joining with others
  • noun the state of being connected together as in memory or imagination
  • noun (chemistry) any process of combination (especially in solution) that depends on relatively weak chemical bonding
  • noun the process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination
  • noun a relation resulting from interaction or dependence

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin associātiōnem, from associāre (perhaps via French association).

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Examples

  • First of all, then, the validity of the argument depends upon the probability there is that the constant associated of Mind with Matter within experience is due to a _causal_ connection; for if the association in question is merely an _association_ and nothing more, the origin of known mind is as far from being explained as it would be were

    A Candid Examination of Theism George John Romanes 1871

  • During workshops we regularly ask sales draftees to play a word association game around the term "salesperson."

    Marshall Goldsmith: When Service Turns to Sales Marshall Goldsmith 2011

  • Or, for that matter, why would it translate into more difficulty in breaking away from a baseball-related solution in the word association task or figuring out that a tack box, if emptied, can be used as a support device?

    Choke Ph.D. Sian Beilock 2010

  • Or, for that matter, why would it translate into more difficulty in breaking away from a baseball-related solution in the word association task or figuring out that a tack box, if emptied, can be used as a support device?

    Choke Ph.D. Sian Beilock 2010

  • Or, for that matter, why would it translate into more difficulty in breaking away from a baseball-related solution in the word association task or figuring out that a tack box, if emptied, can be used as a support device?

    Choke Ph.D. Sian Beilock 2010

  • For example, say the relationship bird→airplane had a word association value of 11.

    ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006

  • For example, say the relationship bird→airplane had a word association value of 11.

    ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006

  • For example, say the relationship bird→airplane had a word association value of 11.

    ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006

  • A word association with streaming media leaps to mind: screaming meemies.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • A word association with streaming media leaps to mind: screaming meemies.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

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  • hhhhhhheeeeeeellllllllllooooo MEANS HELLO DER

    November 26, 2012