RELATIONSHIP

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does relationship mean? 

• RELATIONSHIP (noun)
  The noun RELATIONSHIP has 4 senses:

1. a relation between people; ('relationship' is often used where 'relation' would serve, as in 'the relationship between inflation and unemployment', but the preferred usage of 'relationship' is for human relations or states of relatedness)

2. a state of connectedness between people (especially an emotional connection)

3. a state involving mutual dealings between people or parties or countries

4. (anthropology) relatedness or connection by blood or marriage or adoption

  Familiarity information: RELATIONSHIP used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RELATIONSHIP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A relation between people; ('relationship' is often used where 'relation' would serve, as in 'the relationship between inflation and unemployment', but the preferred usage of 'relationship' is for human relations or states of relatedness)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

human relationship; relationship

Context example:

the relationship between mothers and their children

Hypernyms ("relationship" is a kind of...):

relation (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "relationship"):

personal relation; personal relationship (a relation between persons)

partnership (a cooperative relationship between people or groups who agree to share responsibility for achieving some specific goal)

Derivation:

relation (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together)

relation (a person related by blood or marriage)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A state of connectedness between people (especially an emotional connection)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

he didn't want his wife to know of the relationship

Hypernyms ("relationship" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "relationship"):

anaclisis ((psychoanalysis) relationship marked by strong dependence on others; especially a libidinal attachment to e.g. a parental figure)

love affair; romance (a relationship between two lovers)

sexual relationship (a relationship involving sexual intimacy)

Derivation:

relation (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together)

relation (a person related by blood or marriage)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A state involving mutual dealings between people or parties or countries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("relationship" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "relationship"):

account; business relationship (a formal contractual relationship established to provide for regular banking or brokerage or business services)

acquaintance; acquaintanceship (a relationship less intimate than friendship)

affiliation; association; tie; tie-up (a social or business relationship)

assimilation (the state of being assimilated; people of different backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a larger national family)

friendly relationship; friendship (the state of being friends (or friendly))

membership (the state of being a member)

subjection; subjugation (forced submission to control by others)

Derivation:

relation ((usually plural) mutual dealings or connections among persons or groups)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(anthropology) relatedness or connection by blood or marriage or adoption

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

family relationship; kinship; relationship

Hypernyms ("relationship" is a kind of...):

relation (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together)

Domain category:

anthropology (the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "relationship"):

marital bed; marital relationship (the relationship between wife and husband)

brotherhood (the kinship relation between a male offspring and the siblings)

sisterhood; sistership (the kinship relation between a female offspring and the siblings)

maternity; motherhood (the kinship relation between an offspring and the mother)

fatherhood; paternity (the kinship relation between an offspring and the father)

birth; parentage (the kinship relation of an offspring to the parents)

blood kinship; cognation; consanguinity ((anthropology) related by blood)

affinity ((anthropology) kinship by marriage or adoption; not a blood relationship)

descent; filiation; line of descent; lineage (the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitors)

affinity; phylogenetic relation ((biology) state of relationship between organisms or groups of organisms resulting in resemblance in structure or structural parts)

Derivation:

relation (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of two entities or parts together)

relation (a person related by blood or marriage)

 Context examples 

To be associated with; this is usually used as a description of the relationship of a person to an institution.

(Affiliated, NCI Thesaurus)

An indication or description of the relationship of an adverse event to a non-study treatment.

(Adverse Event Relationship to Non Study Treatment, NCI Thesaurus)

A coded value specifying the kind of assessed result relationship.

(Assessed Result Relationship Type Code, NCI Thesaurus)

The relationship with endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia is also unclear.

(Atypical Endometrial Hyperplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

It can change your routines, roles and relationships.

(Cancer--Living with Cancer, NIH: National Cancer Institute)

The relationship between genes and proteins isn’t a simple matter of one gene coding for one protein.

(Revealing the human proteome, NIH)

However, little is known about the relationship between triclosan and human bone health.

(Common Ingredient in Toothpaste Puts Women at Risk of Bone Disease, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A relationship is still occupying your thoughts as February begins.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Based on the structure-function relationships they identified, the researchers then designed another few dozen peptides for further testing.

(Venom of Wasp, Bee Repurposed as Antibiotic Drug, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The relative relationship of a timepoint to a reference timepoint.

(CDISC SDTM Relation to Reference Period Terminology, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)