Link vs. Association: Know the Difference
By Shumaila Saeed || Published on February 6, 2024
Link refers to a direct connection between two entities, while association implies a more indirect or conceptual relationship between them.
Key Differences
A link is a direct and tangible connection between two things, often implying physical or digital connectivity. In contrast, an association is more abstract, referring to a mental or conceptual connection that may not be immediately apparent.
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Feb 06, 2024
In digital terms, a link usually refers to a hyperlink connecting web pages, whereas an association is broader, encompassing ideas or relationships that are conceptually linked.
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Feb 06, 2024
Links are often concrete and observable, such as a chain link connecting two objects. Associations, however, are subjective, depending on personal experiences or societal norms.
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Feb 06, 2024
In data structures, a link specifically refers to a pointer or reference between objects, while an association is a more general term for any kind of relationship or connection between data elements.
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Feb 06, 2024
In communication, a link is a direct channel or pathway, like a phone line, whereas an association can be a thematic or contextual connection between ideas or topics.
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Feb 06, 2024
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A direct connection or reference between two entities.
An indirect, conceptual, or mental connection between two entities.
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Feb 06, 2024
Usage in Digital Context
Specifically refers to hyperlinks in digital platforms.
Broader, includes any conceptual relationship in digital content.
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Feb 06, 2024
Physical vs. Conceptual
Often physical or visible, like chain links or hyperlinks.
Generally conceptual, based on ideas or experiences.
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Feb 06, 2024
Data Structure Context
Refers to concrete pointers or references in data structures.
Implies a broader range of relationships between data elements.
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Feb 06, 2024
Communication Implication
Direct communication pathways or channels.
Thematic or contextual connections in communication.
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Link and Association Definitions
Link
A reference or pointer, especially in digital contexts.
Click on this link to visit the website.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
A mental connection made between two concepts.
He has a negative association with that song.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A part of a communication or transportation network.
The new railway line is a vital link between the two cities.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
A group or organization formed for a specific purpose.
She's a member of the American Medical Association.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A single element in a chain or series.
Each puzzle piece is a link in the story.
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Association
The act of joining or partnering with others for a common goal.
Their association in the project led to its success.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
To physically or conceptually connect two things.
The lecture linked historical events to modern issues.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
The act of associating or being connected with
My parents disapproved of my association with my friends from across town.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
An organized body of people who have an interest, activity, or purpose in common; a society.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A unit in a connected series of units
Links of sausage.
One link in a molecular chain.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
A mental connection or relation between thoughts, feelings, ideas, or sensations
My therapist helped me examine my association of food with comfort.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
The act of expressing a link or connection between two things
"The media's association of visa overstayers with illegality is so strong and common as to shape public attitudes towards them" (Junya Morooka).
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A connecting element; a tie or bond
Grandparents, our link with the past.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
A correlation or causal connection
There is a definite association of exercise with improved health.
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Link
An association; a relationship
The Alumnae Association is my link to the school's present administration.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
(Chemistry) Any of various processes of combination, such as hydration, solvation, or complex-ion formation, depending on relatively weak chemical bonding.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A causal, parallel, or reciprocal relationship; a correlation
Researchers have detected a link between smoking and heart disease.
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Association
(Ecology) A large number of organisms in a specific geographic area constituting a community with one or two dominant species.
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Link
A unit of length used in surveying, equal to 0.01 chain, 7.92 inches, or about 20.12 centimeters.
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Association
(countable) The state of being associated; a connection to or an affiliation with something.
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Association
(statistics) Any relationship between two measured quantities that renders them statistically dependent (but not necessarily causal or a correlation).
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(Computers)A graphical item or segment of text in a webpage or other electronic document that, when clicked, causes another webpage or section of the same webpage to be displayed
That newspaper's homepage includes links to numerous government resources. Also called hotlink, hyperlink.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
A group of persons associated for a common purpose; an organization; society.
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Association
(object-oriented programming) Relationship between classes of objects that allows one object instance to cause another to perform an action on its behalf.
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Link
To put together physically, as with links
Linked the rings to form a chain.
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Association
A benevolent overseas Chinese organization of popular origin for overseas Chinese individuals with the same surname or trade or business.
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Association
The act of associating, or state of being associated; union; connection, whether of persons of things.
Self-denial is a kind of holy association with God.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
To make or have a link to (another webpage or electronic document)
The blog links important news stories from across the web.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
Mental connection, or that which is mentally linked or associated with a thing.
Words . . . must owe their powers association.
Why should . . . the holiest words, with all their venerable associations, be profaned?
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
To make a link in (a webpage or electronic document)
The teacher linked the class website to an online map.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
Union of persons in a company or society for some particular purpose; as, the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a benevolent association. Specifically, as among the Congregationalists, a society, consisting of a number of ministers, generally the pastors of neighboring churches, united for promoting the interests of religion and the harmony of the churches.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
To be or become joined together physically
The molecules linked to form a polymer.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
A formal organization of people or groups of people;
He joined the Modern Language Association
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Link
To be or become connected, related, or associated
Their business has linked up with ours.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
The act of consorting with or joining with others;
You cannot be convicted of criminal guilt by association
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
To make or have a link to a webpage or electronic document
The shocking news story was linked to by many blogs. The article linked to photos of the damage.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
The state of being connected together as in memory or imagination;
His association of his father with being beaten was too strong to break
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
To follow a link in a webpage or electronic document
With a click of the mouse, I linked to the museum's website.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
A social or business relationship;
A valuable financial affiliation
He was sorry he had to sever his ties with other members of the team
Many close associations with England
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A connection between places, people, events, things, or ideas.
The mayor’s assistant serves as the link to the media.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
The process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination;
Conditioning is a form of learning by association
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
One element of a chain or other connected series.
The third link of the silver chain needs to be resoldered.
The weakest link.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
A relation resulting from interaction or dependence;
Flints were found in association with the prehistoric remains of the bear
The host is not always injured by association with a parasite
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
Abbreviation of hyperlink
The link on the page points to the sports scores.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
(chemistry) any process of combination (especially in solution) that depends on relatively weak chemical bonding
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(computing) The connection between buses or systems.
A by-N-link is composed of N lanes.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
(ecology) a group of organisms (plants and animals) that live together in a certain geographical region and constitute a community with a few dominant species
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Association
A connection or relationship between ideas, objects, or people.
There's a strong association between diet and health.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(Sussex) a thin wild bank of land splitting two cultivated patches and often linking two hills.
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Jan 23, 2024
Association
The process of recalling or thinking about one thing when another is encountered.
The smell of cookies brings an association of childhood.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(kinematics) 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.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(engineering) 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.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(surveying) 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.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(chemistry) A bond of affinity, or a unit of valence between atoms; applied to a unit of chemical force or attraction.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(in the plural) The windings of a river; the land along a winding stream.
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Link
To contain a hyperlink to another page.
My homepage links to my wife's.
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Link
To supply (somebody) with a hyperlink; to direct by means of a link.
Haven't you seen his Web site? I'll link you to it.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
To post a hyperlink to.
Stop linking those unfunny comics all the time!
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(compilation) To combine objects generated by a compiler into a single executable.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
Hence: Anything, whether material or not, which binds together, or connects, separate things; a part of a connected series; a tie; a bond.
The link of brotherhood, by whichOne common Maker bound me to the kind.
And so by double links enchained themselves in lover's life.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
Any one of the several elementary pieces of a mechanism, as the fixed frame, or a rod, wheel, mass of confined liquid, etc., by which relative motion of other parts is produced and constrained.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
Any intermediate rod or piece for transmitting force or motion, especially a short connecting rod with a bearing at each end; specifically (Steam Engine), 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.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A bond of affinity, or a unit of valence between atoms; - applied to a unit of chemical force or attraction.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A hill or ridge, as a sand hill, or a wooded or turfy bank between cultivated fields, etc.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A winding of a river; also, the ground along such a winding; a meander; - usually in pl.
The windings or "links" of the Forth above and below Stirling are extremely tortuous.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
Sand hills with the surrounding level or undulating land, such as occur along the seashore, a river bank, etc.
Golf may be played on any park or common, but its original home is the "links" or common land which is found by the seashore, where the short close tuft, the sandy subsoil, and the many natural obstacles in the shape of bents, whins, sand holes, and banks, supply the conditions which are essential to the proper pursuit of the game.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
To connect or unite with a link or as with a link; to join; to attach; to unite; to couple.
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.
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A fastener that serves to join or link;
The walls are held together with metal links placed in the wet mortar during construction
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Link
The state of being connected;
The connection between church and state is inescapable
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
(computing) an instruction that connects one part of a program or an element on a list to another program or list
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A channel for communication between groups;
He provided a liaison with the guerrillas
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
A two-way radio communication system (usually microwave); part of a more extensive telecommunication network
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
An interconnecting circuit between two or more locations for the purpose of transmitting and receiving data
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
Make a logical or causal connection;
I cannot connect these two pieces of evidence in my mind
Colligate these facts
I cannot relate these events at all
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
Connect, fasten, or put together two or more pieces;
Can you connect the two loudspeakers?
Tie the ropes together
Link arms
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Jan 23, 2024
Link
Be or become joined or united or linked;
The two streets connect to become a highway
Our paths joined
The travelers linked up again at the airport
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Link
A connector between two different elements.
A chain link connects two parts of a chain.
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Repeatedly Asked Queries
Is a link always visible?
Often, but not always, like conceptual links in discussions.
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Feb 06, 2024
Do links imply direct connection?
Yes, links are direct and tangible connections.
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Feb 06, 2024
What is a link in digital terms?
A hyperlink connecting web pages or documents.
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Feb 06, 2024
Can associations be subjective?
Yes, often based on personal or societal perceptions.
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Feb 06, 2024
What does association mean in psychology?
A mental connection between concepts or experiences.
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Feb 06, 2024
Are links important in website navigation?
Absolutely, they connect different web pages and content.
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Feb 06, 2024
Can links exist in communication?
Yes, as direct channels or pathways for information.
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Feb 06, 2024
Is an association always a formal group?
No, it can also be an informal relationship or connection.
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Feb 06, 2024
Can a link be a part of a data structure?
Yes, as a pointer or reference between data objects.
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Feb 06, 2024
Are associations always obvious?
Not necessarily; some are subtle or conceptual.
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Feb 06, 2024
Can links be broken?
Yes, both physically (like a chain) and conceptually (like in narratives).
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Does association have a role in memory?
Yes, it's key in how we recall and relate information.
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Feb 06, 2024
Are associations unique to individuals?
They can be, influenced by personal experiences.
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Feb 06, 2024
Is an association the same as a partnership?
It can be, especially in the context of collaboration.
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Feb 06, 2024
Do associations involve direct connections?
They are more about indirect, conceptual relationships.
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Feb 06, 2024
Is linking an action?
Yes, it refers to the act of connecting or associating.
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Feb 06, 2024
Can a link create a sequence?
Yes, like links in a chain or series of events.
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Feb 06, 2024
Can associations be negative?
Yes, they can have positive, negative, or neutral connotations.
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Can associations change over time?
Yes, they can evolve with new experiences or information.
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Feb 06, 2024
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About Author
Written by
Shumaila SaeedShumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.
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