1.a formal organization of people or groups of people;
he joined the Modern Language Association
2.the act of consorting with or joining with others;
you cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association
3.the state of being connected together as in memory or imagination;
his association of his father with being beaten was too strong to break
4.a social or business relationship;
a valuable financial affiliation
5.the process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination;
conditioning is a form of learning by association
6.a relation resulting from interaction or dependence;
flints were found in association with the prehistoric remains of the bear
7.(chemistry) any process of combination (especially in solution) that depends on relatively weak chemical bonding
8.(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