Meaning & use
associate with
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Meanings
phrasetransitive
to spend time with someone, especially someone others disapprove of
Grammar: Takes an object: associate with someone. Often used in warnings about bad company.
Patterns
- associate with someone
His parents worry that he associates with the wrong crowd.
She stopped associating with people who were always in trouble.
As a teenager, he associated with a group of older boys.
phrasetransitive
to connect one thing with another in your mind
Grammar: Often passive: something is associated with something else. You can also say associate A with B.
Patterns
- associate something with something
- be associated with something
Most people associate red with danger or love.
The brand is associated with high quality.
I always associate that song with my first summer abroad.
phrasetransitiveformal
to be involved with or connected to an organization or activity
Grammar: Often passive: be associated with a group, project, or event. Formal in tone.
Patterns
- be associated with something
He was associated with the research project for over ten years.
Several famous writers were associated with that magazine.
The charity is associated with a large international network.
Common combinations
- associate with the wrong crowd
- Her parents think she associates with the wrong crowd.
- closely associated with
- The disease is closely associated with poor diet.
- be associated with a risk
- The treatment is associated with a small risk of infection.
- commonly associated with
- This plant is commonly associated with spring festivals.
- refuse to associate with someone
- He refused to associate with anyone who cheated.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mix with
- Similar for social contact, but neutral and often approving; associate with can suggest disapproval.
- connect
- Used for linking ideas or things, not people; you connect A with B.
- link
- Slightly more neutral and factual for connections between things or events.
Opposites
Word family
- association noun
- a connection between things or people, or an organized group
- associated adjective
- connected or involved with something
Commonly confused: associate with or associate to?
associate with vs associate to
Not standard English. The preposition is always with: associate with someone.
Practice
Many people ______ this smell ______ their grandmother's kitchen.
Choose one answer.
The fixed pattern is associate A with B. The other prepositions do not follow associate in this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “associate with”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.