1. A connection of persons, things, or ideas by some common factor.
2. A functional connection of two ideas, events, or psychological phenomena established through learning or experience. See Also: conditioning.
3. Statistical dependence between two or more events, characteristics, or other variables.
Origin
[L. as-socio, pp. -sociatus, to join to; ad + socius, companion]
clang association
dream associations
free association
genetic association
loose associations