• Verb: (these pronunciations can also apply to the noun and adjective)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: əsō'shiāt, əsō'siāt IPA^(key): /əˈsəʊʃieɪt/, /əˈsəʊsieɪt/
  • (General American) enPR: əsō'shiāt, əsō'siāt IPA^(key): /əˈsoʊʃieɪt/, /əˈsoʊsieɪt/

  • Audio (US):

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• Noun and adjective:
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: əsō'shiət, əsō'siət IPA^(key): /əˈsəʊʃi.ət/, /əˈsəʊsi.ət/
  • (General American) enPR: əsō'shiət, əsō'siət IPA^(key): /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, /əˈsoʊsi.ət/, /əˈsoʊʃi.ɪt/, /əˈsoʊsi.ɪt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: as‧so‧ci‧ate

From Middle English associat(e) (used participially as well as adjectively up to Early Modern English), from Latin associātus, the perfect passive participle of associō (“to join, unite”), from ad- +‎ sociō, from socius (“shared, common, kindred”) +‎ -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix).

associate (not comparable)

1. Joined with another or others and having lower status.

   The associate editor is someone who has some experience in editing but not sufficient experience to qualify for a senior post.

2. Having partial status or privileges.

   He is an associate member of the club.

3. Following or accompanying; concomitant.
4. (biology, dated) Connected by habit or sympathy.

   associate motions ― motions that occur sympathetically, in consequence of preceding motions

   • 1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia; Or, The Laws of Organic Life, page 36:

     These associate ideas are gradually formed into habits of acting together, by frequent repetition, while they are yet separately obedient to the will; as is evident from the difficulty we experience in gaining so exact an idea of the front of St. Paul's church, as to be able to delineate it with accuracy, or in recollecting a poem of a few pages.

From the substantivization of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

associate (plural associates)

1. A person united with another or others in an act, enterprise, or business; a partner or employee.

   Allow me to introduce my business associates, Alice and Bob, who are senior VPs for ops and strategy, respectively.

   Associates must wash hands before returning to work

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene i:

     The frowning lookes of fiery Tamburlaine,
     That with his terrour and imperious eies,
     Commands the hearts of his aſſociates, […]

2. Somebody with whom one works, coworker, colleague.
3. A companion; a comrade.
4. One that habitually accompanies or is associated with another; an attendant circumstance.
5. A member of an institution or society who is granted only partial status or privileges.
6. (algebra) One of a pair of elements of an integral domain (or a ring) such that the two elements are divisible by each other (or, equivalently, such that each one can be expressed as the product of the other with a unit).

• See also Thesaurus:associate

From Middle English associat(e) (“associated, allied”) (the verb *associaten is not found in Middle English writings and only attested at a later period), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Doublet of associe.

associate (third-person singular simple present associates, present participle associating, simple past and past participle associated)

1. (intransitive) To join in or form a league, union, or association.
2. (intransitive) To spend time socially; keep company.

   She associates with her coworkers on weekends.

   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

     As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, […]. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. […] I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.

3. (transitive, with with) To join as a partner, ally, or friend.

   He associated his name with many environmental causes.

4. (transitive) To connect or join together; combine.

   Synonyms: attach, join, put together, unite; see also Thesaurus:join

   particles of gold associated with other substances

5. (transitive) To connect evidentially, or in the mind or imagination.
   • 1819 September 21, John Keats, letter to John Hamilton Reynolds:

     I always somehow associate Chatterton with autumn.

   • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II‎^[1]:

     He succeeded in associating his name inseparably with some names which will last as long as our language.

   • 1951 August, P. W. Gentry, “Cliff Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 514:

     A branch of rail transport that seems to been rather neglected by historians is that concerned with cliff railways, of which a fair number exist in Great Britain. This is probably because these lines are overshadowed by the more spectacular funicular railways in Switzerland and other mountainous regions; perhaps, too, because of the general habit of referring to them as "cliff lifts," which tends to associate them with the vertical indoor type.

   • 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714:

     The economics of rebuilding all the stations covered by the electrification would be prohibitive, but to help bring home to the Glasgow public that their North Clyde suburban service has been transformed, not merely re-equipped with new trains, stations have at least been associated psychologically with the rolling stock by a common colour scheme.

   • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:

     Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident.

6. (reflexive, in deliberative bodies) To endorse.
   • 1999 August 4-5, Congress, “Pt. 14”, in Congressional Record, volume 145, page 19343:

     Mr. President, I rise to associate myself with the remarks of my senior Senator from Louisiana who has led this fight successfully for many years

7. (mathematics) To be associative.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To accompany; to be in the company of.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     Friends should associate friends in grief and woe

• disassociate

• association
• associative

• “associate”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

associate

1. inflection of associare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person plural imperative

associate f pl

1. feminine plural of associato

associāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of associō