{
  "id": "association.relation",
  "term": "association",
  "sense": "relation",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 10,
  "arena": "relation.association",
  "domain": "association",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "A relation that connects things because they have the same pattern.",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "connection.social",
      "similar.comparative",
      "connects.verb",
      "pattern.regularity",
      "relation.association"
    ],
    "interaction": "The connection and similar together create a relation between things.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "shared pattern recognition",
      "persistent relational linkage",
      "cross-entity analogy"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The periodic table groups elements like lithium, sodium, and potassium because they share reactivity patterns.",
      "domain": "chemistry"
    },
    {
      "text": "Users clicking both 'Add to Cart' and 'Wishlist' buttons on Amazon products reveal an association in browsing behavior.",
      "domain": "computing"
    },
    {
      "text": "Birds migrating in V-formations follow the same aerodynamic pattern, linking their flight paths through energy-saving alignment.",
      "domain": "biology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [
    "summary.text"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "associate",
    "associated",
    "associates",
    "associating",
    "association",
    "associations"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Added missing constitutive concepts connects.verb, pattern.regularity, and relation.association to align with the definition's semantic commitments."
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-association.relation"
}