associate
as·so·ci·ate/əˈsoʊʃi.ət/adjective, noun, verb
associate is spelled A-S-S-O-C-I-A-T-E, 4 syllables: as·so·ci·ate. The wrong spelling people search most is assoicate: about 70 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 67 of all searches for the word. Associate is an adjective meaning “Joined with another or others and having lower status”.
How many letters and syllables are in associate?
| Letters | 9: A-S-S-O-C-I-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: as·so·ci·ate |
| In writing | 25 times per million words; the 3,683rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, assoicate, about 70 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell associate?
Associate is spelled A-S-S-O-C-I-A-T-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 67 of the searches for associate in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is associate?
Associate appears 25 times per million words in written English, the 3,683rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce associate?
- UK /əˈsəʊʃi.ət/
- UK /əˈsəʊsi.ət/
- US /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/
As a verb (“To join in or form a league, union, or association”): /əˈsəʊʃieɪt/, /əˈsəʊsieɪt/, /əˈsoʊʃieɪt/.
Associate has 4 syllables, split as·so·ci·ate in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-associate-2.ogg, En-us-associate-3.ogg, En-us-associate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of associate
- associates plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- associating participle, present
- associated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does associate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Joined with another or others and having lower status.
The associate editor is someone who has some experience in editing but not sufficient experience to qualify for a senior post.
- 2
Having partial status or privileges.
He is an associate member of the club.
- 3
Following or accompanying; concomitant.
- 4
datedConnected by habit or sympathy.
associate motions
noun
- 1
A person united with another or others in an act, enterprise, or business; a partner or employee.
Allow me to introduce my business associates, Alice and Bob, who are senior VPs for ops and strategy, respectively.
- 2
Somebody with whom one works, coworker, colleague.
- 3
A companion; a comrade.
- 4
One that habitually accompanies or is associated with another; an attendant circumstance.
- 5
A member of an institution or society who is granted only partial status or privileges.
- 6
One of a pair of elements of an integral domain (or a ring) such that the two elements are divisible by each other (or, equivalently, such that each one can be expressed as the product of the other with a unit).
- 7
A casual friend, acquaintance
verb
- 1
To join in or form a league, union, or association.
- 2
To spend time socially; keep company.
She associates with her coworkers on weekends.
- 3
To join as a partner, ally, or friend.
He associated his name with many environmental causes.
- 4
To connect or join together; combine.
particles of gold associated with other substances
- 5
To connect evidentially, or in the mind or imagination.
I always somehow associate Chatterton with autumn.
- 6
To endorse.
She refused to associate herself with the petition.
- 7
To be associative.
- 8
obsoleteTo accompany; to be in the company of.
noun
- 1
slangAn associate's degree.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate associate?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of associate: Assoc, Assoc., assoc..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Associate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | associado , colega , associar-se a , associar |
| Spanish | compañero , asociar , asociado , frecuentar, alternar, tratar |
| German | Weggefährte , vereinigen, zu einem Verband zusammenschließen , gemeinsam Zeit verbringen, in Gesellschaft sein , zuordnen |
| French | fréquenter |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does associate come from?
From Middle English associat(e) (used participially as well as adjectively up to Early Modern English), from Latin associātus, the perfect passive participle of associō (“to join, unite”), from ad- + sociō, from socius (“shared, common, kindred”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).