From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishassociationas‧so‧ci‧a‧tion /əˌsəʊsiˈeɪʃən, əˌsəʊʃi- $ əˌsoʊ-/ ●●○ W3 noun 1 ORGANIZATION[countable] an organization that consists of a group of people who have the same aims, do the same kind of work etc the Association of Master Builders → housing association► see thesaurus at organization2 CONNECTED WITH[countable, uncountable] a relationship with a particular person, organization, group etcassociation with his close association with the Green Party3 → in association with somebody/something4 [countable] a connection or relationship between two events, ideas, situations etcassociation between the strong association between the disease and middle-aged women5 REMEMBER[countable] a feeling or memory that is related to a particular place, event, word etc Scotland has all kinds of happy associations for me.
Examples from the Corpus
association• a word-association game• the college's alumni association• There is evidence of an association between headaches and computer use.• The National Basketball Association negotiates TV rights for important games.• the National Education Association• The new health care proposals have been criticized by the British Medical Association.• the National Association of Head Teachers• National associations also tend to sponsor larger schemes in the more important settlements rather than in areas of isolated housing need.• Freedom of expression and of the press, and freedom of peaceful assembly, of association and of movement were all guaranteed.• For children with normal length of gestation there was a positive association between birth weight and lung function.• Foods served at holidays such as Thanksgiving have special associations.• Maternity wards were notably slow to improve, largely due to their popularly believed, if apparently unfounded, association with prostitution.close association• That began a close association between the two, with the artist applying himself assiduously to the theories of his friend.• Forming a close association with them was ruled out.• In particular there are close associations between nesting density on islands or islets, foraging habits, breeding ecology, and behaviour.• Coupled with his close association with medicine, it explains why he decided to follow the career of scientist and natural philosopher.• By its close association with women.• The close association between the visual and the cultural may explain the reluctance of some teachers to give it much attention.strong association• The blue saddlecloth evidently had a strong association with pain; which indicated the reason for her earlier unsuccessful training.• Studies show a strong association between consistent dividend growth and long-term stock performance.• A strong association, however, is not a proof of causation.• Through its strong associations with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, abdominal obesity in particular is injurious.• The results suggested no strong association.• For woman as maker and subject, earth has particularly strong associations.• The strong association between antral tumours and chronic active gastritis suggests the possibility that H pylori infection may have a pathogenic role.• The strong association between colorectal dysplasia and cancer in ulcerative colitis was described in 1967.From Longman Business Dictionaryassociationas‧so‧ci‧a‧tion /əˌsəʊsiˈeɪʃən, əˌsəʊʃi-əˌsoʊ-/ written abbreviation assn noun [countable]ORGANIZATIONS a group of people or organizations who have the same aims or do the same kind of workthe National Association of Purchasing Managers → housing association → industry association → staff association 