engage or engross the interest or attention of beforehand or occupy urgently or obsessively; "His work preoccupies him"; "The matter preoccupies her completely--she cannot think of anything else"
occupy or take possession of beforehand or before another or appropriate for use in advance; "the army preoccupied the hills"
the act of consorting with or joining with others; "you cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association"
the process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination; "conditioning is a form of learning by association"
(ecology) a group of organisms (plants and animals) that live together in a certain geographical region and constitute a community with a few dominant species
a formal organization of people or groups of people; "he joined the Modern Language Association"
(chemistry) any process of combination (especially in solution) that depends on relatively weak chemical bonding
a relation resulting from interaction or dependence; "flints were found in association with the prehistoric remains of the bear"; "the host is not always injured by association with a parasite"
the state of being connected together as in memory or imagination; "his association of his father with being beaten was too strong to break"