n.1. a connection or relationship between two items (e.g., ideas, events, feelings) with the result that experiencing the first item activates a representation of the second. Associations are fundamental to learning theory and behaviorism. 2. the degree of statistical dependence or relationship between two or more phenomena. See also correlation; strength of association. 3. a group of individuals who gather occasionally for some common purpose. —associativeadj.—associationaladj.