linkage

plural linkages

1. countableuncountableA mechanical device that connects things.

   A linkage in my car's transmission is broken so I can't shift out of first gear.

2. countableuncountableA connection or relation between things or ideas.

   Far from ignoring linkages between gays and the poor and working class, I specifically made the point that they are common victims of the bureaucratic revolution.

   1976 August 21, A. Nolder Gay, “Another View”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 8, page 4

   Synonyms: association, bond, connection, link, relationship

3. countableuncountablecomputingThe act or result of linking: the combination of multiple object files into one executable, library, or object file.
4. countableuncountablebiologyThe property of genes of being inherited together.
5. countableuncountablehuman sciencesA set of definitely related languages for which no proto-language can be derived, typically a group of languages within a family that have formed a sprachbund.
6. UScountablehistoricaluncountablegovernmentA United States foreign policy, during the 1970s détente in the Cold War, of persuading the Soviet Union to co-operate in restraining revolutions in the Third World in return for nuclear and economic concessions.