Meaning & use
connection
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A link between two or more things, people, or ideas, showing that they are related or affect each other.
Grammar: Often followed by between or with: a connection between sleep and memory.
Patterns
- a connection between something and something
- a connection with someone
- in connection with something
Doctors found a connection between the patient's diet and her headaches.
There is no obvious connection between the two crimes.
She felt a deep connection with her grandmother.
nouncountable
A physical or electronic link that lets devices, wires, or networks exchange power or data.
Grammar: Can be counted (two connections) and often describes internet or electrical links.
Patterns
- a connection to something
- lose the connection
My internet connection keeps dropping during video calls.
Check that the cable has a firm connection to the wall socket.
The pipe leaked at the connection where the two sections met.
nouncountable
A train, bus, or flight that a traveler must catch after arriving on an earlier one.
Grammar: Usually used with miss or catch: she missed her connection.
Patterns
- miss a connection
- catch a connection
Our plane landed late, so we missed our connection to Denver.
There is a good bus connection from the station to the airport.
He had only ten minutes to make the connection in Chicago.
nounusually pluralinformal
A person you know who can help you through their position, influence, or relationships.
Grammar: Usually plural when it means useful contacts: he has connections in the film industry.
Patterns
- have connections
- connections in something
She got the interview because her uncle has connections at the company.
Good connections can open doors early in a career.
Word forms
| plural | connections |
|---|
Common combinations
- make a connection
- It took me a moment to make the connection between the two names.
- close connection
- The two families have a close connection going back decades.
- internet connection
- The lesson stopped because of a poor internet connection.
- miss a connection
- Heavy fog made many passengers miss their connections.
- in connection with
- Police want to question a man in connection with the theft.
- personal connection
- The speaker built a personal connection with the audience.
Synonyms and how they differ
- link
- Link is shorter and more general, while connection often suggests a closer or more established tie.
- relationship
- Relationship is mainly about how people or things relate, whereas connection can also be a physical or technical join.
- association
- Association suggests things grouped together in the mind or an organization, with a weaker sense of cause.
- bond
- Bond is warmer and stronger, used for emotional ties between people, which connection does not always imply.
Opposites
Word family
- connect verb
- to join or link things or people
- connected adjective
- joined or related
- connector noun
- a part or word that joins things together
- disconnect verb
- to break a link
- interconnection noun
- a mutual link among several things
Commonly confused: connection or connection vs. connotation?
connection vs connection vs. connotation
A connotation is an extra feeling or idea a word carries; a connection is a link between things.
Practice
Scientists are studying the ___ between air pollution and asthma.
Choose one answer.
After the article the, a noun is needed, and connection between X and Y is the standard pattern. The other options are verb or adjective forms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “connection”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.