- join
- join, conjoin, combine, unite, connect, link, associate, relate are comparable when meaning to attach or fasten one thing to another or several things to each other or to become so attached or fastened.Join stresses the bringing or coming together into contact or conjunction of two or more clearly discrete things{
Join two pieces of wood by dovetailing them
}{join skirt lengths by seams
}{join hands
}{join a man and woman in matrimony
}{where the Mohawk river joins the Hudson
}{the opponents of the proposal decided to join forces
}Join is the specific term when one becomes a member of a group or enters into the company of others as an equal{join a society
}{join a church
}{join a group at a reception
}{join the army
}Conjoin usually emphasizes both the separateness and distinctness of the items to be joined and the unity that results from their being joined{from inborn indolence, conjoined with avarice, pride, and lust of power, has sprung slavery in all its protean forms— Henry Wilson
}{Death Valley probably received the discharge of both the Amargosa and Mohave rivers, whose conjoined waters entered from the south— Jour, of Geology
}Combine in this relation (see also UNITE 2) adds to join the implications of a mingling or blending and may stress more heavily the idea of a common purpose or end; it is therefore used of two or more, often immaterial, things that may lose or seem to lose their identities and become merged in each other{combine the ingredients for a cake
}{a gift for combining, for fusing into a single phrase, two or more diverse impressions— T. S. Eliot
}{with this quality of temperance was combined in Socrates a rare measure of independence and moral courage— Dickinson
}{combined literary distinction with a high degree of historical objectivity— Van Alstyne
}Unite, like combine, implies a blending that effects the loss of individual identity of the elements, but, like conjoin, unite stresses the singleness of the result{unite two pieces of metal by welding
}{our peace will, like a broken limb united, grow stronger for the breaking— Shak.
}{particles which can unite to form a new compound— T. S. Eliot
}{in France the whole people saw at once what was upon them; the single word patrie was enough to unite them in a common enthusiasm and stern determination— Inge
}Connect implies a loose or, at least, an obvious attachment of things to each other and the preservation not only of each thing's identity but also of the evidence of its physical or logical separateness; in this way it is distinguishable from join when physical attachment is implied; thus, a wall is built up of bricks joined, rather than connected, together by cement but a chain is made by connecting a succession of steel links; often connect implies an intervening element or medium which permits joint movement and intercommunication{connect two railway coaches by means of a coupler
}{connect two islands with a bridge
}{ligaments serve to connect bones at a joint
}{a minor road which connects highways
}When the idea of logical attachment is uppermost, connect usually implies that the ideas, events, or things whether material or immaterial have a bearing on each other (as of cause and effect, generic likeness, or reference to the same person or thing){the two incidents were connected
}{the police have now sufficient evidence to connect the suspect with the bombing
}{she could not connect her mother's meanness with the magnitude of what had happened— Auchincloss
}{anything connected with Napoleon is of interest to them
}Connect, especially in the passive, is preferable to join when used in reference to organizations or groups and looseness of attachment, impermanence, or subordination is implied{nobody connected with the paper ever makes a public appearance without being challenged— Bliven b. 1889
}Link, with its underlying reference to one of the parts of a chain, is usually more emphatic than connect in implying firmness of attachment; it is therefore the more precise word when one wishes to preserve the basic implications of connect and yet to avoid its common connotations of a weak or severable attachment; thus, to link a person with a crime is, by implication, to have ample evidence of his involvement with it{Augustus set himself to revive the state religion ... as part of his policy of linking up past and present, and as an instrument in securing the restoration of the old morality— Buchari
}{none of the subjects that linked us together could be talked about in a bar— Nevil Shute
}{mobilize civilian science and link it effectively with the war effort— Baxter
}Associate primarily implies a joining with another usually in an amiable relationship and on terms of equality{a group of men associated in business
}{when bad men combine, good men must associate— Burke
}{my father's conviction that they were too lowly to associate with me, when it was so clear that I was too poor to associate with them, may have had some sort of imaginary validity for him; but for me it was snobbish nonsense— Shaw
}In its extended use as referred to things, the implication of companionship on equal terms gives way to the implication of a connection in logic or in thought which comes naturally or involuntarily to the mind of the observer either because the things traditionally go together, or naturally or rightfully belong together, or for some reason have come to be linked together in one's thoughts{for the artist life is always a discipline, and no discipline can be without pain. That is so even of dancing, which of all the arts is most associated in the popular mind with pleasure— Ellis
}{Surrealism has been associated with psychological and intellectual atmosphere common to periods of war— Bernard Smith
}{a fir tree is not a flower, and yet it is associated in my mind with primroses— Jefferies
}Relate implies a connection, or an attempt to show a connection, between two or more persons or things. In reference to persons it implies a connection through a common ancestor or through marriage{John and James are remotely related to each other
}In reference to things or to persons objectively regarded, it implies that each has some bearing on the other and often indicates the existence of a real or presumed logical connection{related his misfortunes to events which preceded them
}{the two circumstances are not related
}{their ability to relate what they observe to what they know or have previously observed— Hildreth
}Analogous words: conjoin, *unite, combine, cooperate, concur: articulate, concatenate, *integrate: attach, affix, *fasten: knit, *weave: *tie, bindAntonyms: disjoin: part
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
