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Meaning & use

bonding experience

noun·Everydayinformal

Last updated

UK/ˈbɒndɪŋ ɪkˌspɪəriəns/
US/ˈbɑːndɪŋ ɪkˌspɪriəns/

Meanings

  1. nouncountable

    an activity or event that makes people feel closer and more friendly with each other

    Grammar: Countable: a bonding experience, several bonding experiences. Often used with 'a' and an adjective.

    Patterns

    • a bonding experience for someone
    • be a bonding experience
    • share a bonding experience

    Camping together was a real bonding experience for the new teammates.

    The cooking class turned into a bonding experience for the whole family.

    For many students, the trip abroad was their first bonding experience with classmates.

  2. nounsingular

    an event seen mainly as a way of building closeness rather than achieving a practical goal

    Grammar: Often used in the pattern 'more of a bonding experience than ...' to contrast it with something practical.

    Patterns

    • more of a bonding experience than something
    • just a bonding experience

    The meeting was more of a bonding experience than a serious planning session.

    Losing the game was hard, but the bus ride home was a bonding experience for the players.

Word forms

pluralbonding experiences

Common combinations

a real bonding experience
The hike was a real bonding experience for the group.
a great bonding experience
Volunteering together is a great bonding experience.
a bonding experience for the team
The retreat was a bonding experience for the team.
share a bonding experience
The sisters shared a bonding experience at the concert.
turn into a bonding experience
What started as chores turned into a bonding experience.

Synonyms and how they differ

team-building activity
This is more work-focused and planned; a bonding experience can be any shared event, planned or not.
shared experience
This is neutral and does not say whether people became closer; bonding experience does.
icebreaker
An icebreaker is a short activity to start conversation, while a bonding experience usually builds deeper closeness over time.

Word family

bond verb
to develop a close relationship with someone
bonding noun
the process of forming close relationships
bond noun
a close connection between people

Commonly confused: bonding experience or binding experience?

bonding experience vs binding experience

Binding means 'that must be obeyed' or 'hard to escape'; it does not mean making people closer.

Practice

The weekend trip was a great ______ for the new employees.

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