ASSOCIATION

noun Date: 1535 1. the act of associating, the state of being associated ; combination , relationship , an organization of persons having a common interest ; society , something linked in memory or imagination with a thing or person, the process of forming mental connections or bonds between sensations, ideas, or memories, the aggregation of chemical species to form (as with hydrogen bonds) loosely bound complexes, a major unit in ecological community organization characterized by essential uniformity and usually by two or more dominant species, ~al adjective