Association

an organization of people with a common purpose and having a formal structure.
the act of or state of being .
friendship; companionship:
their close -ssociation did not last long.
connection or combination.
the connection or relation of ideas, feelings, sensations, etc.; correlation of elements of perception, reasoning, or the like.
an idea, image, feeling, etc., suggested by or connected with something other than itself; an accompanying thought, emotion, or the like; an overtone or connotation:
my -ssociations with that painting are of springlike days.
ecology. a group of plants of one or more species living together under uniform environmental conditions and having a uniform and distinctive aspect.
chemistry. a weak form of chemical bonding involving aggregation of molecules of the same compound.
.
astronomy, .
contemporary examples

it was glitz by -ssociation, a cl-ssic case study on how to package foreign stars as a-list american celebrities.
beckham’s american dream dashed grant wahl august 16, 2009

treating a woman decently right up to the end of your -ssociation with her is the best way to prevent relationship blowback.
how not to manage a harem tracy quan december 7, 2009

because of that -ssociation, pencils are often painted yellow.
you can indeed judge a book by its cover brian gresko november 19, 2013

according to maddow, this is not guilt by -ssociation, but guilt by choice, and not a smart move for either palin or her party.
top 8 moments from sunday talk shows the daily beast video october 3, 2009

delta is a platinum global partner, ranking them among the highest-level contributors to the -ssociation.
how you can help make a more lgbt-friendly world december 11, 2014

historical examples

-ssociation of ideas is a nursing mother to the fertility of authorship.
calamities and quarrels of authors isaac disraeli

it was formed, in fact, by the articles of -ssociation in 1774.
united states presidents’ inaugural speeches various

during the year the membership of the -ssociation more than doubled.
the history of woman suffrage, volume vi various

her eyes were so blue that but for the -ssociation he would have called her sapphira.
weighed and wanting george macdonald

would our great lords tolerate, even for a few hours, the -ssociation with honest fellows of this stamp?
the fortunes of glencore charles james lever

noun
a group of people having a common purpose or interest; a society or club
the act of -ssociating or the state of being -ssociated
friendship or companionship: their -ssociation will not last
a mental connection of ideas, feelings, or sensations: -ssociation of revolution with bloodshed
(psychol) the mental process of linking ideas so that the recurrence of one idea automatically recalls the other see also free -ssociation
(chem) the formation of groups of molecules and ions, esp in liquids, held together by weak chemical bonds
(ecology) a group of similar plants that grow in a uniform environment and contain one or more dominant species
n.

1530s, “action of coming together,” from medieval latin -ssociationem (nominative -ssociatio), noun of action from past participle stem of -ssociare (see -ssociate). meaning “a body of persons with a common purpose” is from 1650s. meaning “mental connection” is from 1680s; that of “quality or thing called to mind by something else” is from 1810.

-ssociation as·so·ci·a·tion (ə-sō’sē-ā’shən, -shē-)
n.

a connection of persons, things, or ideas by some common factor; union.

a functional connection of two ideas, events, or psychological phenomena established through learning or experience.

-ssociation
(ə-sō’sē-ā’shən, -shē-)
a large number of organisms in a specific geographic area const-tuting a community with one or two dominant species.