Associate Meaning
/əˈsəʊʃi.ət/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjJoined with another or others and having lower status.
adjHaving partial status or privileges.
Sentence Examples
You had better not associate with those men.
We associate Darwin with the theory of evolution.
I always associate the smell of baking with my childhood.
CEFR Practice Quiz
I would never ____ with people who spread malicious rumors about others.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I always ____ the smell of fresh lavender with my grandmother's house.
Word Origin & History
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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia; Or, The Laws of Organic Life, page 36:
"The frowning lookes of fiery Tamburlaine,
That with his terrour and imperious eies,
Commands the hearts of his aſſociates, […]"
— c. 1587–1588 (date written), [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:
"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."
— 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
"He succeeded in associating his name inseparably with some names which will last as long as our language."
— 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II:
"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."
— 1951 August, P. W. Gentry, “Cliff Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 514:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
I would never ____ with people who spread malicious rumors about others.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I always ____ the smell of fresh lavender with my grandmother's house.