connection

• connexion (UK, dated), connex. (abbreviation)

From Middle English conneccioun, connexioun, conneccyon, conneccion, from Latin connexionem (nominative connexio (“a conclusion, binding together”)), from connectō, an alternative spelling of cōnectō (“I bind together”), from compound of co- (“together”) and nectō (“I bind”).

In American English mid-18c., spelling shifted from connexion to connection (equivalent to connect +‎ -ion), thus making connexion British dated and connection in international use.

• IPA^(key): /kəˈnɛkʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

connection (countable and uncountable, plural connections)

1. (uncountable) The act of connecting.
2. The point at which two or more things are connected.

   the connection between overeating and obesity

   My headache has no connection with me going out last night.

   • 2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman‎:

     A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "We can confirm that a 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in connection with the murder of Jodi Jones. A 45-year-old has also been arrested in connection with allegations of attempting to pervert the course of justice. A report on this has been sent to the procurator fiscal."

3. A feeling of understanding and ease of communication between two or more people.

   As we were the only people in the room to laugh at the joke, I felt a connection between us.

4. An established communications or transportation link.

   computers linked by a network connection

   I was talking to him, but there was lightning and we lost the connection.

   The Route 4 bus will arrive on 5th St. at Robinson Ave at 3:30. The northbound number 14 is scheduled to arrive on Robinson at 3:31. That means you have to run across the street once you arrive, it's a spot connection.

5. (transport) A transfer from one transportation vehicle to another in scheduled transportation service.

   The bus was late so he missed his connection at Penn Station and had to wait six hours for the next train.

   • 2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: the nation's finest stations: Eastbourne”, in RAIL, number 948, page 26:

     It is kept super-clean by helpful staff who still find the time to help customers with tight connections.

6. A kinship relationship between people.
7. A person related to oneself, through either family or business.

   I have some connections in Lancashire.

8. (mathematics) A set of sets that contains the empty set, all one-element sets for any element that is included in any of the sets, and the union of any group of sets that are elements where the intersections of those sets is non-empty.
9. Coherence; lack of disjointedness.
10. (religion) A Methodist denomination as a whole, as opposed to its constituent churches, circuits, districts and conferences.
11. Sexual intercourse.
    • 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)‎:

      The exact nature of the relations between the boy-wife and his protector are doubtful; they certainly have connection, but the natives repudiate with horror and disgust the idea of sodomy.

12. (slang) A drug dealer.
    • 1957, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC:

      Now the final study was the drug habit. He was now in New Orleans, slipping along the streets with shady characters and haunting connection bars.

• Jonathon Green (2024) “connection n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang