association

a formal organization of people or groups of people; "he joined the Modern Language Association"

the act of consorting with or joining with others; "you cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association"

the state of being connected together as in memory or imagination; "his association of his father with being beaten was too strong to break"

the process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination; "conditioning is a form of learning by association"

a social or business relationship; "a valuable financial affiliation"; "he was sorry he had to sever his ties with other members of the team"; "many close associations with England"

a relation resulting from interaction or dependence; "flints were found in association with the prehistoric remains of the bear"; "the host is not always injured by association with a parasite"

(chemistry) any process of combination (especially in solution) that depends on relatively weak chemical bonding

(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