Associate
Associate noun - A person frequently seen in the company of another.
Usage example: a number of his associates were members of organized crime, so he was a person of interest to the FBI
Partner is a synonym for associate in people topic. In some cases you can use "Partner" instead the word "Associate" as a noun or a verb, when it comes to topics like colleague, cohort, rival, connect. popular alternative
Partner
Partner noun - An associate in an activity or endeavor or sphere of common interest.
Usage example: sexual partners
Associate is a synonym for partner in friend topic. You can use "Associate" instead the word "Partner" as a noun or a verb, if it concerns topics such as people, companion, colleague, cohort. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- friend and associate
- friend and partner
- accessory and associate
- accessory and partner
- fellow and associate
- fellow and partner
- companion and associate
- companion and partner
- colleague and associate
- colleague and partner
- consort and associate
- consort and partner
- comrade and associate
- comrade and partner
How words are described
| close | close associate | close partner |
| old | old associate | old partner |
| female | female associate | female partner |
| better | better associate | better partner |
| Other adjectives: regular, black, potential, young, willing, criminal, new, senior, reluctant, frequent, late, former, junior, silent, mysterious, occasional, different, lesbian, long-time, longtime. | ||
Both words in one sentence
-
He's known to do this to his pawns, but the henchman was presumably a partner or associate of some sort.
Source: Series / Alphas -
Many of the characters in Fishbones are in the mafia, and the protagonist's father is a sort of business partner/associate of theirs.
Source: The Mafia - She suffers from overlapping cases of amnesia and can never remember what her name is, so everyone calls her "Van's sidekick/associate/partner/whatever" or just don't call her anything.
Source: Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
Cite this Source
Partner and Associate. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 14, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/associate/partner
Associate & Partner. N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/associate/partner>.
Partner or Associate. 2016. Accessed August 14, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/associate/partner.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "associate" and "partner" have occurred on timeline