Meaning & use
associative
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Relating to the mental linking of ideas, feelings, or memories with one another.
Grammar: Used before a noun: associative thinking, associative memory.
Patterns
- associative thinking
- associative memory
- associative learning
Associative thinking helps us connect a smell with a childhood memory.
The study examined associative memory in older adults.
Creative people often rely on associative leaps between unrelated ideas.
adjectivenot comparablemathematicstechnical
(mathematics) Describing an operation in which the grouping of terms does not change the result.
Grammar: Used before a noun: associative property, associative law.
Patterns
- associative property
- associative law
- associative operation
Addition is associative because (2 + 3) + 4 equals 2 + (3 + 4).
Subtraction is not associative: (5 − 3) − 1 is not the same as 5 − (3 − 1).
Students learn the associative property alongside the commutative property.
Common combinations
- associative property
- The associative property lets you regroup numbers when adding.
- associative memory
- Associative memory links one item to another in the mind.
- associative learning
- Classical conditioning is a form of associative learning.
- associative thinking
- Her associative thinking produced unusual but useful solutions.
Synonyms and how they differ
- connective
- Focuses on joining things together, not on the mental or mathematical linking of ideas.
- relational
- Emphasizes relationships between things; associative emphasizes automatic linking.
Opposites
Word family
- associate verb
- To connect one thing with another in your mind.
- association noun
- A mental connection between ideas, or an organized group.
- associatively adverb
- In a way that involves linking ideas or terms.
Commonly confused: associative or associative vs. commutative?
associative vs associative vs. commutative
Associative is about regrouping; commutative is about changing the order. Addition is both, but subtraction is neither.
Practice
Which sentence correctly uses 'associative'?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 uses 'associative' as an adjective before 'property', which is the standard mathematical collocation. The other options wrongly use it as a verb, noun, or adverb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “associative”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.