What does "associational" mean?

Of, pertaining to or deriving from association.

What is a synonym for "associational"?

Common synonyms include: allegorical, communal, connotative, denotative, expressive, extended.

Associational

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of, pertaining to or deriving from association.
"How could I create such complex and wide schemes of associational thought and feeling, such filigreed webs of dreams and politics, without being mistaken for a “smuggler of reaction,” “an ideological confusionist,” or “an individualistic and dangerous element”?"

Adjective

1
of or relating to associations or associationism wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

allegorical communal connotative denotative expressive extended

Example

More examples

"How could I create such complex and wide schemes of associational thought and feeling, such filigreed webs of dreams and politics, without being mistaken for a “smuggler of reaction,” “an ideological confusionist,” or “an individualistic and dangerous element”?"

Etymology

From association + -al.

Related phrases

associational freedom

More for "associational"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.