the act of making or becoming a single unit; "the union of opposing factions"; "he looked forward to the unification of his family for the holidays"
a device on a national flag emblematic of the union of two or more sovereignties (typically in the upper inner corner)
the occurrence of a uniting of separate parts; "lightning produced an unusual union of the metals"
a set containing all and only the members of two or more given sets; "let C be the union of the sets A and B"
an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer; "you have to join the union in order to get a job"
a political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations; "the Soviet Union"
the United States (especially the northern states during the American Civil War); "he has visited every state in the Union"; "Lee hoped to detach Maryland from the Union"; "the North's superior resources turned the scale"
healing process involving the growing together of the edges of a wound or the growing together of broken bones
the state of being joined or united or linked; "there is strength in union"
being of or having to do with the northern United States and those loyal to the Union during the American Civil War; "Union soldiers"; "Federal forces"; "a Federal infantryman"
of trade unions; "the union movement"; "union negotiations"; "a union-shop clause in the contract"
changed in order to improve or made more fit for a particular purpose; "seeds precisely adapted to the area"; "instructions altered to suit the children's different ages"
having an indicated pole (as the distinction between positive and negative electric charges); "he got the polarity of the battery reversed"; "charges of opposite sign"
a former instrument of punishment consisting of a heavy timber frame with holes in which the feet (and sometimes the hands) of an offender could be locked
a frame for constraining an animal while it is receiving veterinary attention or while being shod
a frame that supports a boat while it is under construction
a belief that can guide behavior; "the architect has a theory that more is less"; "they killed him on the theory that dead men tell no tales"
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"