associate

Etymology

From Latin associō.

adj

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: those that occur sympathetically, in consequence of preceding motions
   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

noun

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

verb

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.
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.
   particles of gold associated with other substances
5. (transitive) To connect evidentially, or in the mind or imagination.
   I always somehow associate Chatterton with autumn. 1819 September 21, John Keats, letter to John Hamilton Reynolds
   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
   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. 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714
   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. 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist
6. (reflexive, in deliberative bodies) To endorse.
   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 1999 August 4-5, Congress, “Pt. 14”, in Congressional Record, volume 145, page 19343
7. (mathematics) To be associative.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To accompany; to be in the company of.