What does "link" mean?
A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.
Link
/lɪŋk/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.
- Grammar: link is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: tie, connection, join, nexus.
- Useful contrasts: disconnected lesson, orphaned, unlinked.
- Usage evidence: Is there a link between smoking and lung cancer?
How to use "link"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "link" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "link" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "link" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "link" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "link" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "tie" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "link", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.
"The mayor’s assistant serves as the link to the media."
- 2 A torch, used to light dark streets. obsolete
"Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches"
- 3 a fastener that serves to join or connect wordnet
- 4 One element of a chain or other connected series.
"The third link of the silver chain needs to be resoldered."
- 5 an interconnecting circuit between two or more locations for the purpose of transmitting and receiving data wordnet
Show 20 more definitions
- 6 Abbreviation of hyperlink. abbreviation, alt-of
"The link on the page points to the sports scores."
- 7 a two-way radio communication system (usually microwave); part of a more extensive telecommunication network wordnet
- 8 The connection between buses or systems.
"A by-N-link is composed of N lanes."
- 9 a channel for communication between groups wordnet
- 10 A space comprising one or more disjoint knots.
- 11 (computing) an instruction that connects one part of a program or an element on a list to another program or list wordnet
- 12 A thin wild bank of land splitting two cultivated patches and often linking two hills.
"They used formerly to live in caves or huts dug into the side of a bank or "link," and lined with heath or straw."
- 13 a unit of length equal to 1/100 of a chain wordnet
- 14 An individual person or element in a system figuratively
"But know that God is the strongest link."
- 15 the means of connection between things linked in series wordnet
- 16 Anything doubled and closed like a link of a chain.
"a link of horsehair"
- 17 a connecting shape wordnet
- 18 A sausage that is not a patty.
- 19 the state of being connected wordnet
- 20 Any one of the several elementary pieces of a mechanism, such as the fixed frame, or a rod, wheel, mass of confined liquid, etc., by which relative motion of other parts is produced and constrained.
- 21 Any intermediate rod or piece for transmitting force or motion, especially a short connecting rod with a bearing at each end; specifically (in steam engines) the slotted bar, or connecting piece, to the opposite ends of which the eccentric rods are jointed, and by means of which the movement of the valve is varied, in a link motion.
- 22 The length of one joint of Gunter's chain, being the hundredth part of it, or 7.92 inches, the chain being 66 feet in length.
- 23 A bond of affinity, or a unit of valence between atoms; applied to a unit of chemical force or attraction.
- 24 The windings of a river; the land along a winding stream. in-plural
"'Dame Foljambe,' said the old man, 'the march of thy tale is like the course of the Wye, seventeen miles of links and windings down a fair valley five miles long. […]'"
- 25 An introductory cue.
"Too much talk on a music-based station can cause listeners who tune in for the music to go elsewhere. […] 'Some people will say “your link has to be 45 seconds long” but I don't do that,' explains the programme controller of Trent FM, Dick Stone."
Verb
- 1 To connect (two or more things). transitive
"All the tribes and nations that composed it [the Roman Empire] were linked together, not only by the same laws and the same government, but by all the facilities of commodious intercourse, and of frequent communication."
- 2 To skip or trip along smartly; to go quickly. Scotland, intransitive
"On a sudden he was aware of a man linking along at his side. He cried a fine night, and the man replied."
- 3 make a logical or causal connection wordnet
- 4 To contain a hyperlink to another page. Internet, intransitive
"My homepage links to my wife's."
- 5 connect, fasten, or put together two or more pieces wordnet
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 To supply (someone) with a hyperlink; to direct by means of a link. Internet, transitive
"Haven't you seen his website? I'll link you to it."
- 7 link with or as with a yoke wordnet
- 8 To post a hyperlink to. Internet, transitive
"Stop linking those unfunny comics all the time!"
- 9 be or become joined or united or linked wordnet
- 10 To demonstrate a correlation between (two things). transitive
- 11 To combine objects generated by a compiler into a single executable.
- 12 To meet with (someone). slang, transitive
"Linked us, now she don't wanna link them man again / Your ex plays in the Prem but you never see him taking a pen"
Proper Noun
- 1 A diminutive of the male given name Lincoln. rare
- 2 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Is there a link between smoking and lung cancer?"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "link"?
Common synonyms include: tie, connection, join, nexus, academic relationship, accord.
How do you use "link" in a sentence?
Is there a link between smoking and lung cancer?
How do you pronounce "link"?
Pronounced /lɪŋk/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English linke, lenke, from a merger of Old English hlenċe, hlenċa (“ring; chainlink”) and Old Norse *hlenkr, hlekkr (“ring; chain”); both from Proto-Germanic *hlankiz (“ring; bond; fettle; fetter”), from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“bendsome, flexible”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng-, *klenk- (“to bend; twist; wind”). Used in English since the 14th century. Related to lank. Cognates Cognate with Low German Lenk (“link”), Danish lænke (“chain; link”), Elfdalian lekk (“link”), Icelandic hlekkur (“link”), Norwegian Bokmål lenke (“chain; link”), Norwegian Nynorsk lenke, lenkje (“chain; link”), Swedish länk (“chain; link”).
Etymology 2
Plausibly a modification of Medieval Latin linchinus (“candle”), an alteration of Latin lynchinus, itself from Ancient Greek λύχνος (lúkhnos, “lamp”).
Etymology 3
Unknown.