nexus

Etymology

From Latin nexus (“connection, nexus; act of binding, tying or fastening together; something which binds, binding, bond, fastening, joint; legal obligation”), from nectere + -tus (suffix forming verbal nouns). Nectere is the infinitive of nectō (“to attach, bind, connect, fasten, tie; to interweave; to relate; to unite; to bind by obligation, make liable, oblige; to compose, contrive, devise, produce”), from Proto-Indo-European *gned-, *gnod- (“to bind”).

noun

1. A form or state of connection.
   1. (Canada, US, finance, law) The relationship between a vendor and a jurisdiction for the purpose of taxation, established for example by the vendor operating a physical store in that jurisdiction.
2. A connected group; a network, a web.
   Sunday's election pits Move Forward and the billionaire Shinawatra family's Pheu Thai against ruling parties backed by a nexus of old money, conservatives and generals with influence over key institutions involved in two decades of upheaval in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy. 2023-05-14, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Panu Wongcha-um, “Thailand's opposition opens up big election lead as army parties slide”, in Reuters
3. A centre or focus of something.
4. (grammar) In the work of the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen (1860–1943): a group of words expressing two concepts in one unit (such as a clause or sentence).
5. (Ancient Rome, law, historical) A person who had contracted a nexum or obligation of such a kind that, if they failed to pay, their creditor could compel them to work as a servant until the debt was paid; an indentured servant.