connection

plural connections · alternative dated connexion · alternative abbreviation connex.

1. uncountableThe act of connecting.

   Forster employs personal relations to emphasize the importance of connection and mutual understanding

   2005 October 2, Mieke Schüller, Howards End by E. M. Forster: "Only Connect!", GRIN Verlag, →ISBN, page 2

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   At the town of Mendes, in the principal temple, there was a living male goat, with which, if the statement of Herodotus is to be accepted, naked female worshippers actually had carnal intercourse. Male worshippers similarly had connexion with she-goats.

   1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page 29

   1. countableuncountableCoherence; lack of disjointedness.
   2. countableeuphemisticuncountableSexual intercourse.

      The exact nature of the relations between the boy-wife and his protector are doubtful; they certainly have connection, but the natives repudiate with horror and disgust the idea of sodomy.

      1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)

2. countableuncountableThe point at which two or more things are connected.

   the leak formed at the connection of the pipe and the boiler

   1. countableuncountabletransportA transfer from one transportation vehicle to another in scheduled transportation service.

      The bus was late so he missed his connection at Penn Station and had to wait six hours for the next train.

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      It is kept super-clean by helpful staff who still find the time to help customers with tight connections.

      2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: the nation's finest stations: Eastbourne”, in RAIL, number 948, page 26

3. countableuncountableA physical link between two things or places.

   the isthmus of Panama is the connection between North and South America

   1. countableuncountableAn established communications or transportation link.

      computers linked by a network connection

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      I was talking to him, but there was lightning and we lost the connection.

4. A relationship or association.
   1. countableuncountableA causal relationship between two phenomena; cause and effect.

      the connection between overeating and obesity

      1 more example

      My headache has no connection with me going out last night.

   2. countableuncountableA relationship between people or groups of people.

      These two seemed to have a closer relationship than I knew. What's their connection?

      2020 June 30, Tikiri Herath, The Girl Who Knew Their Names: A vigilante crime suspense novel, REBEL DIVA PRESS, →ISBN

      Synonyms: communion

   3. countableuncountableA feeling of mutual understanding and ease of communication between two or more people.

      As we were the only people in the room to laugh at the joke, I felt a connection between us.

   4. countableuncountableA contextual relationship; the commonality between two or more things.

      in this connection

      2 more examples

      A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "We can confirm that a 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in connection with the murder of Jodi Jones. A 45-year-old has also been arrested in connection with allegations of attempting to pervert the course of justice. A report on this has been sent to the procurator fiscal."

      2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman

      The first two rounds, in which players try to identify the connection between a group of four clues and then to name the next clue in a cryptic sequence, are often so obscure, the connections so convoluted or tangential, that nobody lands on an answer.

      2025 February 17, Emily Bootle, “I hate Only Connect – but I can’t stop watching it”, in The i Paper

5. countableuncountableA person or persons related to oneself, through either family or business.

   I have some connections in Lancashire.

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   I hadn't much chance of buying a practice or dropping into a partnership worth having and I jibbed at setting up in some God-forsaken backwater and slipping into middle age 'building up a connection.'

   1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

   1. countableplural normallyuncountableAn acquaintance who is useful in a particular scenario, especially in a corrupt or criminal way.

      I have connections in the local committee. I shall bring them to bear, as long as the Council does not find fault!

      1934, A. I. Voinova, Semi-precious Stones

      2 more examples

      General Zhigailo also used his connections to have an officer at the academy expelled from the party because he had criticized the general's behavior.

      2005, Roger R. Reese, Red Commanders: A Social History of the Soviet Army Officer Corps, 1918-1991, page 223

      "I don't think Merv had ever been in the Mob," she added, but "he had connections." She recalled one of his connections.

      2015 September 19, Linda J. Alexander, A Maverick Life: The Jack Kelly Story, BearManor Media

   2. countableslanguncountableA drug dealer.

      Now the final study was the drug habit. He was now in New Orleans, slipping along the streets with shady characters and haunting connection bars.

      1957 September 5, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC

6. countableuncountablemathematicsA set of sets that contains the empty set, all one-element sets for any element that is included in any of the sets, and the union of any group of sets that are elements where the intersections of those sets is non-empty.
7. alternativecountableuncountablelifestyleAlternative spelling of connexion; a Methodist denomination as a whole, as opposed to its constituent churches, circuits, districts and conferences.