associates 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of associate
1
as in travels
to come or be together as friends a socially ambitious couple who joined the country club in order to associate with the right sort of people

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Relevance

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2
as in identifies
to think of (something) in combination she still associates Memorial Day with her long-ago fiancé, who died in Vietnam

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in combines
to come together to form a single unit the elements hydrogen and oxygen associate to form molecules of water

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in cooperates
to form or enter into an association that furthers the interests of its members nations deciding to associate in order to remove trade barriers

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in mixes
to take part in social activities you should try to associate with people your own age

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

associates

2 of 2

noun

plural of associate
1
as in colleagues
a person frequently seen in the company of another a number of his associates were members of organized crime, so he was a person of interest to the FBI

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2
as in coworkers
a fellow worker my associates at the office

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of associates
Verb
What being Southern meant to his father—and the values Duane associates with being a Southern gentleman. — Sid Evans, Southern Living, 11 Aug. 2026 The productivity boom everyone associates with the personal computer didn’t actually show up in the macro data until 15 years after the PC was commercialized. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 14 July 2026 The two-time Oscar winner, who was born in Concord and grew up in the East Bay, associates that sign with some of his favorite Bay Area childhood memories. — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 15 June 2026 The third vessel, for example, contains circular discs symbolizing water, which Chan associates with rebirth. — Anthony Demarco, Forbes.com, 17 May 2026 In practical terms, that means Forest now associates humans with food and safety, the opposite of what a wild deer needs to survive. — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 28 Apr. 2026 Greene’s heart-to-heart media tour has been jarring liberals and anyone else who associates her with conspiratorial beliefs and outrageous comments. — Erin Mansfield, USA Today, 21 Nov. 2025 Everyone associates that with us. — Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 8 Oct. 2025 Hunger can be another motivator, especially if your feline associates certain times or behaviors with food. — Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Oct. 2025
Noun
Beck didn’t participate in the book, but Riesman finds enough friends, family and associates to assemble a complex portrait of an artist who wants his audiences to see him as fashion-forward but has had a hard time shaking his past. — Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2026 John Giusti, a chiropractor with an independent practice outside Dallas and Forth Worth, was found dead on Monday, friends and business associates said on social media. — N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026 There was no aisle in the traditional Western sense, or any nod whatsoever to the imagery most of the world associates, by cultural default, with a celebrity wedding. — Rebecca Suhrawardi, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026 The images — found in a search by The Washington Post — follow other controversial actions and rhetoric from former Collins staffers and other Collins associates that have dogged his Senate campaign. — Liz Goodwin, Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2026 Wolfe allegedly tipped off three associates who together made about $515,000 in unrealized profits. — Chase Jordan august 27, Charlotte Observer, 27 Aug. 2026 Bank associates told her the bank had been hacked, though didn't say by whom. — Arezou Rezvani, NPR, 25 Aug. 2026 This year, the Iranian government froze the bank accounts and seized assets belonging to more than a hundred Iranians who are living overseas, including dozens of staff members and associates of Iran International. — Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2026 From 1970 to 1980, its membership increased eightfold, to more than 700,000—bolstered by a push to include low-level sales associates in its membership and a rush of women joining. — Michael Waters, The Atlantic, 22 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for associates
  1. travels
  2. identifies
  3. combines
  4. cooperates
  5. mixes
  6. colleagues
  7. bonds
  8. correlates
Verb
  • Linebacker Weston Reis also came through for 2-0 Palos Verdes, which travels to Carson next Thursday in another challenging nonleague game.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The story follows Ana, a young Black French woman who, following the death of her grandmother, travels to her matriarch’s birth city of Belo Horizonte.
    — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of travels
Verb
  • The cops don’t entirely buy that their serial killer is a high-school student, even as Bret identifies Robert by name.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
  • In Colorado, nearly a quarter of the overall population identifies as Hispanic or Latino.
    — Hillary Lum, The Conversation, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of identifies
Verb
  • All-wing approach The Z4 replaces much of the traditional tube-and-wing layout with a broad airframe that combines the fuselage and lifting surfaces.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Part ballerina, part pump, the style combines the gamine energy of your favorite flats with the limb-elongating power of a classic heel.
    — Christina Holevas, Vogue, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of combines
Verb
  • There were 223 seats at the Lee’s Summit restaurant, not all of them in use, like the 24 in the open-air patio or at the two bars — one that expands into a third outdoor patio for when the weather cooperates.
    — Katelyn Umholtz, Kansas City Star, 3 Aug. 2026
  • If the weather cooperates, the possibilities are endless — hiking, surfing, sunbathing, strolling, gazing at the stars in the sky.
    — Ed Silverman, STAT, 31 July 2026
Definition of cooperates
Verb
  • The bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus, is prevalent in coastal waters, including brackish water where fresh water mixes with salty water.
    — Michael Cappetta, Travel + Leisure, 26 Aug. 2026
  • First, the plume dilutes as cleaner background air mixes into it.
    — Michael A. Robinson, The Conversation, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of mixes
Noun
  • And because nobody washed the dishes before tossing them into the feasting pit, King and his colleagues (in a 2017 study) could analyze the microscopic residue of ancient drinks that had soaked into the ceramic.
    — ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Whether El Niño will continue to strengthen is something Cole and her colleagues’ records can’t answer, but scientists are using climate models to try to puzzle that out.
    — Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of colleagues
Verb
  • The mop-haired actor plays Joey, a spunky boy onboard who bonds with Maddie over having absent parents in the military.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Nigel Starck, too, argues that obituaries provide a glue that bonds society not in grief but in an aspirational reevaluation of our own lives.
    — Sam Roberts, Longreads, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of bonds
Verb
  • According to the company, SignalTrace detects and correlates electronic signals that devices publicly broadcast.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Research indicates that utilizing these benefits correlates with improved health outcomes, including higher rates of preventive visits and better chronic disease management.
    — Aimée K. Dailey, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of correlates

Browse Nearby Words

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Cite this Entry

“Associates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/associates. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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