UNION

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Union mean? 

• UNION (noun)
  The noun UNION has 11 senses:

1. an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer

2. the United States (especially the northern states during the American Civil War)

3. the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes

4. the state of being joined or united or linked

5. the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce)

6. healing process involving the growing together of the edges of a wound or the growing together of broken bones

7. a political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations

8. a set containing all and only the members of two or more given sets

9. the occurrence of a uniting of separate parts

10. a device on a national flag emblematic of the union of two or more sovereignties (typically in the upper inner corner)

11. the act of making or becoming a single unit

  Familiarity information: UNION used as a noun is familiar.

• UNION (adjective)
  The adjective UNION has 2 senses:

1. being of or having to do with the northern United States and those loyal to the Union during the American Civil War

2. of trade unions

  Familiarity information: UNION used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

brotherhood; labor union; trade union; trades union; union

Context example:

you have to join the union in order to get a job

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

organisation; organization (a group of people who work together)

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

industrial union; vertical union (a labor union that admits all workers in a given industry irrespective of their craft)

craft union (a labor union whose membership is restricted to workers in a particular craft)

company union (a union of workers for a single company; a union not affiliated with a larger union)

I.W.W.; Industrial Workers of the World; IWW (a former international labor union and radical labor movement in the United States; founded in Chicago in 1905 and dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism; its membership declined after World War I)

Holonyms ("union" is a part of...):

labor; labor movement; trade union movement (an organized attempt by workers to improve their status by united action (particularly via labor unions) or the leaders of this movement)

Derivation:

unionize (form or join a union)

unionize (recruit for a union or organize into a union)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The United States (especially the northern states during the American Civil War)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

North; Union

Context example:

the North's superior resources turned the scale

Instance hypernyms:

America; the States; U.S.; U.S.A.; United States; United States of America; US; USA (North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776)

Meronyms (parts of "Union"):

free state (any state prohibiting slavery prior to the American Civil War)

Attribute:

northern (in or characteristic of a region of the United States north of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line)

Domain region:

America; the States; U.S.; U.S.A.; United States; United States of America; US; USA (North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

conjugation; coupling; mating; pairing; sexual union; union

Context example:

the mating of some species occurs only in the spring

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

sex; sex activity; sexual activity; sexual practice (activities associated with sexual intercourse)

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

assortative mating (mating of individuals having more traits in common than likely in random mating)

disassortative mating (mating of individuals having traits more dissimilar than likely in random mating)

cross; crossbreeding; crossing; hybridisation; hybridization; hybridizing; interbreeding ((genetics) the act of mixing different species or varieties of animals or plants and thus to produce hybrids)

inbreeding (the act of mating closely related individuals)

service; servicing (the act of mating by male animals)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The state of being joined or united or linked

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

unification; union

Context example:

there is strength in union

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

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

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

coalition; fusion (the state of being combined into one body)

connectedness; connection; link (the state of being connected)

colligation; conjugation; conjunction; junction (the state of being joined together)

association (the state of being connected together as in memory or imagination)

marriage (a close and intimate union)

syncretism (the union (or attempted fusion) of different systems of thought or belief (especially in religion or philosophy))

Antonym:

separation (the state of lacking unity)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

marriage; matrimony; spousal relationship; union; wedlock

Context example:

God bless this union

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

marital status (the condition of being married or unmarried)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

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

open marriage (a marriage in which each partner is free to enter into extraneous sexual relationships without guilt or jealousy from the other)

sigeh (a Shiite tradition of temporary marriage permitted in Iran that allows a couple to specify the terms of their relationship; can last from a few minutes to 99 years)

polygamy (the condition or practice of having more than one spouse at a time)

cuckoldom (the state of a husband whose wife has committed adultery)

monogamousness; monogamy (the practice or state of having only one spouse at a time)

monandry (the state of having only one husband at a time)

misalliance (an unsuitable alliance (especially with regard to marriage))

marriage of convenience (a marriage for expediency rather than love)

exogamy; intermarriage (marriage to a person belonging to a tribe or group other than your own as required by custom or law)

endogamy; inmarriage; intermarriage (marriage within one's own tribe or group as required by custom or law)

common-law marriage (a marriage relationship created by agreement and cohabitation rather than by ceremony)

bigamy (the state of having two spouses at the same time)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Healing process involving the growing together of the edges of a wound or the growing together of broken bones

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

conglutination; union

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

healing (the natural process by which the body repairs itself)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

the Soviet Union

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

political entity; political unit (a unit with political responsibilities)

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

customs union (an association of nations to promote free trade within the union and set common tariffs for nations that are not members)

league (an association of states or organizations or individuals for common action)

confederacy; confederation; federation (a union of political organizations)

enosis (the union of Greece and Cyprus (which is the goal of a group of Greek Cypriots))

Sense 8

Meaning:

A set containing all and only the members of two or more given sets

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

join; sum; union

Context example:

let C be the union of the sets A and B

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

set (a group of things of the same kind that belong together and are so used)

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

direct sum (a union of two disjoint sets in which every element is the sum of an element from each of the disjoint sets)

Sense 9

Meaning:

The occurrence of a uniting of separate parts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

lightning produced an unusual union of the metals

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

happening; natural event; occurrence; occurrent (an event that happens)

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

combine; combining (an occurrence that results in things being united)

fusion; merger; unification (an occurrence that involves the production of a union)

amphimixis (union of sperm and egg in sexual reproduction)

Sense 10

Meaning:

A device on a national flag emblematic of the union of two or more sovereignties (typically in the upper inner corner)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

device (an emblematic design (especially in heraldry))

Sense 11

Meaning:

The act of making or becoming a single unit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

conjugation; jointure; unification; union; uniting

Context example:

he looked forward to the unification of his family for the holidays

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

combination; combining; compounding (the act of combining things to form a new whole)

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

reunification; reunion (the act of coming together again)

coalescence; coalescency; coalition; concretion; conglutination (the union of diverse things into one body or form or group; the growing together of parts)

umbrella (having the function of uniting a group of similar things)

tribalisation; tribalization (the act of making tribal; unification on a tribal basis)

Antonym:

disunion (the termination or destruction of union)

Derivation:

unite (become one)

• UNION (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being of or having to do with the northern United States and those loyal to the Union during the American Civil War

Synonyms:

Federal; Union

Context example:

a Federal infantryman

Similar:

northern (in or characteristic of a region of the United States north of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of trade unions

Context example:

a union-shop clause in the contract

Similar:

closed (requiring union membership)

organised; organized; unionised; unionized (being a member of or formed into a labor union)

Antonym:

nonunion (not belonging to or not allowing affiliation with a trade union)

 Context examples 

A compound formed by the union of two entities or compounds.

(Conjugate, NCI Thesaurus)

I must perform my engagement and let the monster depart with his mate before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of a union from which I expected peace.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

One of two cranial bones that by their union form the sides and roof of the skull.

(Parietal Bone, NCI Thesaurus)

The process of producing oligonucleotides by the union of simpler chemical compounds.

(Oligonucleotide Synthesis, NCI Thesaurus)

A data type comprised of the union of sets of unordered, quantitative values.

(Continuous Set Union Data Type, NCI Thesaurus)

“Was he in favour of such a union?”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Dear me,” said Traddles, “what a delightful re-union this is! You are so extremely brown, my dear Copperfield! God bless my soul, how happy I am!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A substance that serves to produce solid union between two surfaces.

(Cement Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

It was a union to distance every wonder of the kind.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced the proposed names of four chemical elements recently discovered by scientists around the world.

(IUPAC proposes four new chemical element names, Wikinews)