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

ASSOCIATION is a 11 letter word that starts with A.

1. \As*so`ci*a"tion\ (?; 277), n. [Cf. F. association,
   LL. associatio, fr. L. associare.]
   1. The act of associating, or state of being associated;
      union; connection, whether of persons of things. ``Some .
      . . bond of association.'' --Hooker.
            Self-denial is a kind of holy association with God.
                                                  --Boyle.
   2. Mental connection, or that which is mentally linked or
      associated with a thing.
            Words . . . must owe their powers association.
                                                  --Johnson.
            Why should . . . the holiest words, with all their
            venerable associations, be profaned?  --Coleridge.
   3. Union of persons in a company or society for some
      particular purpose; as, the American Association for the
      Advancement of Science; a benevolent association.
      Specifically, as among the Congregationalists, a society,
      consisting of a number of ministers, generally the pastors
      of neighboring churches, united for promoting the
      interests of religion and the harmony of the churches.
   {Association of ideas} (Physiol.), the combination or
      connection of states of mind or their objects with one
      another, as the result of which one is said to be revived
      or represented by means of the other. The relations
      according to which they are thus connected or revived are
      called the law of association. Prominent among them are
      reckoned the relations of time and place, and of cause and
      effect. --Porter.
   

2. \
   An organization for promoting the spiritual, intellectual,
   social, and physical welfare of young men, founded, June 6,
   1844, by George Williams (knighted therefor by Queen
   Victoria) in London. In 1851 it extended to the United States
   and Canada, and in 1855 representatives of similar
   organizations throughout Europe and America formed an
   international body. The movement has successfully expanded
   not only among young men in general, but also specifically
   among railroad men, in the army and navy, with provision for
   Indians and negroes, and a full duplication of all the
   various lines of oepration in the boys' departments.
   

3. \
   An organization for promoting the spiritual, intellectual,
   social, and economic welfare of young women, originating in
   1855 with Lady Kinnaird's home for young women, and Miss Emma
   Robert's prayer union for young women,in England, which were
   combined in the year 1884 as a national association. Now
   nearly all the civilized countries, and esp. the United
   States, have local, national, and international
   organizations.