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union

A union is things coming together, or uniting, to make one. When the thirteen colonies that became the United States came together, they formed a union. Marriage is another kind of union.

Workers come together to form trade unions so that together they can have a stronger voice negotiating with their employer. The word famously occurs in the Preamble (the introduction) to the United States Constitution: "We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union...do ordain and establish this Constitution...." You may recognize the Latin root unum in union, as in e pluribus unum "from many, one," the motto on the seal of the United States.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: union

1	n	the state of being joined or united or linked
2	n adj	a political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations of trade unions
3	n	the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce)
4	n	healing process involving the growing together of the edges of a wound or the growing together of broken bones
5	n	a device on a national flag emblematic of the union of two or more sovereignties (typically in the upper inner corner)

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: union

n the state of being joined or united or linked

“there is strength in union”

Synonyms:: unification

Antonyms:: separation
the state of lacking unity

Types:: show 14 types...; hide 14 types...; 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); anastomosis, inosculation
a natural or surgical joining of parts or branches of tubular structures so as to make or become continuous; synapse
the junction between two neurons (axon-to-dendrite) or between a neuron and a muscle; alliance, confederation
the state of being allied or confederated; federalisation, federalization
the state of being under federal control; contact
the state or condition of touching or of being in immediate proximity; concatenation
the state of being linked together as in a chain; union in a linked series; interconnectedness, interconnection
a state of being connected reciprocally; coherence, coherency, cohesion, cohesiveness
the state of cohering or sticking together

Type of:: state
the way something is with respect to its main attributes

n the act of making or becoming a single unit

“the union of opposing factions”

Synonyms:: conjugation, jointure, unification, uniting

Antonyms:: disunion
the termination or destruction of union

Types:: show 5 types...; hide 5 types...; coalescence, coalescency, coalition, concretion, conglutination
the union of diverse things into one body or form or group; the growing together of parts; reunification, reunion
the act of coming together again; tribalisation, tribalization
the act of making tribal; unification on a tribal basis; umbrella
having the function of uniting a group of similar things; homecoming
an annual school or university reunion for graduates

Type of:: combination, combining, compounding
the act of combining things to form a new whole

n the occurrence of a uniting of separate parts

“lightning produced an unusual union of the metals”

Types:: show 8 types...; hide 8 types...; amphimixis
union of sperm and egg in sexual reproduction; fusion, merger, unification
an occurrence that involves the production of a union; combine, combining
an occurrence that results in things being united; recombination
(genetics) a combining of genes or characters different from what they were in the parents; recombination
(physics) a combining of charges or transfer of electrons in a gas that results in the neutralization of ions; important for ions arising from the passage of high-energy particles; consolidation
combining into a solid mass; mix, mixture
an event that combines things in a mixture; conglobation, conglomeration
an occurrence combining miscellaneous things into a (more or less) rounded mass

Type of:: happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent
an event that happens

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

“let C be the union of the sets A and B”

Synonyms:: join, sum

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

Type of:: set
a group of things of the same kind that belong together and are so used

n a political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations

Types:: show 9 types...; hide 9 types...; 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); league
an association of states or organizations or individuals for common action; customs union
an association of nations to promote free trade within the union and set common tariffs for nations that are not members; nation
a federation of tribes (especially Native American tribes); Creek Confederacy
a North American Indian confederacy organized by the Muskogee that dominated the southeastern part of the United States before being removed to Oklahoma; Hanseatic League
a commercial and defensive confederation of free cities in northern Germany and surrounding areas; formed in 1241 and most influential in the 14th century when it included over 100 towns and functioned as an independent political power; the last official assembly was held in 1669; Five Nations, Iroquois League, League of Iroquois, Six Nations
a league of Iroquois tribes including originally the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca (the Five Nations); after 1722 they were joined by the Tuscarora (the Six Nations); Benelux
a customs union comprising Belgium and Netherlands and Luxembourg

Type of:: political entity, political unit
a unit with political responsibilities

n an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer

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

Synonyms:: brotherhood, labor union, trade union, trades union

Types:: show 6 types...; hide 6 types...; 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., IWW, Industrial Workers of the World
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; Teamsters Union
an industrial union of truck drivers and chauffeurs and warehouse workers; United Mine Workers, United Mine Workers of America
an industrial union of mine workers in North America

Type of:: organisation, organization
a group of people who work together

adj of trade unions

“the union movement”

“union negotiations”

“a union-shop clause in the contract”

Synonyms: closed
requiring union membership; organised, organized, unionised, unionized
being a member of or formed into a labor union

Antonyms:: nonunion
not belonging to or not allowing affiliation with a trade union; open
not requiring union membership; nonunionised, nonunionized, unorganised, unorganized
not affiliated in a trade union; show more antonyms...

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

“God bless this union”

Synonyms:: marriage, matrimony, spousal relationship, wedlock

Types:: show 17 types...; hide 17 types...; bigamy
having two spouses at the same time; common-law marriage
a marriage relationship created by agreement and cohabitation rather than by ceremony; endogamy, inmarriage, intermarriage
marriage within one's own tribe or group as required by custom or law; exogamy, intermarriage
marriage to a person belonging to a tribe or group other than your own as required by custom or law; marriage of convenience
a marriage for expediency rather than love; misalliance
an unsuitable alliance (especially with regard to marriage); monandry
the state of having only one husband at a time; monogamousness, monogamy
having only one spouse at a time; open marriage
a marriage in which each partner is free to enter into extraneous sexual relationships without guilt or jealousy from the other; cuckoldom
the state of a husband whose wife has committed adultery; polygamy
having more than one spouse at a time; 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; mesalliance
a marriage with a person of inferior social status; monogyny
having only one wife at a time; serial monogamy
a succession of short monogamous relationships (as by someone who undergoes multiple divorces); polyandry
having more than one husband at a time; polygyny
having more than one wife at a time

Type of:: marital status
the condition of being married or unmarried

n the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes

Synonyms:: conjugation, coupling, mating, pairing, sexual union

Types:: show 9 types...; hide 9 types...; 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; dihybrid cross
hybridization using two traits with two alleles each; monohybrid cross
hybridization using a single trait with two alleles (as in Mendel's experiments with garden peas); reciprocal, reciprocal cross
hybridization involving a pair of crosses that reverse the sexes associated with each genotype; test-cross, testcross
a cross between an organism whose genotype for a certain trait is unknown and an organism that is homozygous recessive for that trait so the unknown genotype can be determined from that of the offspring

Type of:: sex, sex activity, sexual activity, sexual practice
activities associated with sexual intercourse

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

Synonyms:: conglutination

Type of:: healing
the natural process by which the body repairs itself

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

Type of:: device
an emblematic design (especially in heraldry)

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