Word.ws English Dictionary

union

Syllables: Uni·on/ˈjuː.njən/

union noun: the act of uniting or joining two or more things into one.

Noun (1)

union (countable and uncountable, plural unions)

  1. (countable) The act of uniting or joining two or more things into one.
    Antonyms:
    nonunion, disunion
  2. (uncountable) The state of being united or joined; a state of unity or harmony.
    Antonyms:
    nonunion, disunion
  3. (countable) Something united, or made one; something formed by a combination or coalition of parts or members; a confederation; a consolidated body; a league.
  4. (countable) A trade union; a workers' union.
    • In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  5. (countable) An association of students at a university for social and/or political purposes; also in some cases a debating body.
  6. (countable) A joint or other connection uniting parts of machinery, such as pipes.
  7. (countable) The set containing all of the elements of two or more sets.
  8. (countable) The act or state of marriage.
  9. (archaic, euphemistic, uncountable) Sexual intercourse.
  10. (countable) A data structure that can store any of various types of item, but only one at a time.
    • Unions are useful in those cases where you need to keep track of a value that can be represented as different data types during the lifetime of the program.2008, Kris Bell, Lars Ivar Igesund, Sean Kelly, Learn to Tango with D, page 58
  11. (archaic, countable) A large, high-quality pearl.
    • Nonius the senator hath a purple coat as stiff with jewels as his mind is full of vices; rings on his fingers worth 20,000 sesterces, and[…]an union in his ear worth an hundred pounds' weight of gold […]1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II...
    • And in the cup an union shall he throw, Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  12. (historical) An affiliation of several parishes for joint support and management of their poor; also the jointly-owned workhouse.

Verb

union (third-person singular simple present unions, present participle unioning, simple past and past participle unioned)

  1. To combine sets using the union operation.

Adjective

union (comparative more union, superlative most union)

  1. Belonging to, represented by, or otherwise pertaining to a labour union.
    • Actors have to be union to get work here.
    Synonyms:
    unionized
    Antonyms:
    nonunion
  2. (India) federal.
    • The union government of India

Noun (2) capitalized: Union

Union (plural Unions)

  1. The 0-10-2 locomotive wheel arrangement.
  2. The canton of the United States flag: the portion of the flag containing stars on a blue background.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Union

Union

  1. (US, dated, especially, obsolete) The United States of America.
    • threats to secede from the Union
  2. (US, historical) Those of the United States that did not secede at the time of the Civil War (of the United States of America).
    • Union troops at Gettysburg
  3. (historical) The Soviet Union: the proper noun Union is the standard English translation of the proper noun Союз (Sojuz), and All-Union is the standard English translation of всесоюзный (vsesojuznyj).
    • throughout the Union, but nowhere more so than at the Center [Moscow]
  4. (India, alternative) Alternative form of union.
  5. A community in Central Elgin municipality, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada.
  6. A barangay of Ubay, Bohol, Philippines.
  7. A village on the south cast of the island of Siargao, Surigao del Norte, Philippines.
  8. A town in Greene County, Alabama.
  9. A ghost town in Merced County, California.
  10. A former unincorporated community in Napa County, California.
  11. A small town in Tolland County, Connecticut.
  12. A village in McHenry County, Illinois.
Show 27 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. An unincorporated community in Clay Township, Pike County, Indiana.
  2. A tiny city in Hardin County, Iowa.
  3. A home rule city in Boone County, Kentucky.
  4. A town in Knox County, Maine.
  5. A town in Neshoba County and Newton County, Mississippi.
  6. A city, the county seat of Franklin County, Missouri.
  7. An unincorporated community in Clark County, Missouri.
  8. A village in Cass County, Nebraska.
  9. A village and census-designated place in the town of Wakefield, Carroll County, New Hampshire.
  10. A township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
  11. A township and census-designated place therein, in Union County, New Jersey.
  12. A hamlet in Madison County, New York.
  13. A large town in Broome County, New York.
  14. A city in Montgomery County and Miami County, Ohio.
  15. A city in Union County, Oregon.
  16. A city, the county seat of Union County, South Carolina.
  17. An unincorporated community in Floyd County, Virginia.
  18. A small town, the county seat of Monroe County, West Virginia.
  19. A small town in Burnett County, Wisconsin.
  20. A small town in Door County, Wisconsin.
  21. A town and unincorporated community in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin.
  22. An unincorporated community in the town of Lima, Grant County, Wisconsin.
  23. A small town in Pierce County, Wisconsin.
  24. A town and unincorporated community in Rock County, Wisconsin.
  25. A small town in Vernon County, Wisconsin.
  26. A small town in Waupaca County, Wisconsin.
  27. A large number of other townships in the United States, listed under Union Township.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Union

Union (plural Unions)

  1. A surname.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Union

the Union

  1. (informal, Oxford University) The Oxford Union (a debating society); not to be conflated with Oxford University Student Union (a students' union).

union meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

union in Hindi

joint
संयुक्त sãyukt
the act of uniting or the state of being united
संघ saṅgh
that which is united; something formed by a combination of parts or members
संयुक्त sãyukt
in set theory
सम्मिलन sammilan

union in Tamil

தொழிற்சங்கம், ஒன்றியம், யூனியன்

union in Marathi

that which is united; something formed by a combination of parts or members
संघ saṅgha

union in Urdu

the act of uniting or the state of being united
اِتِّحاد ittihād, اِتِّفاق ittifāq, یُونِیَن yūniyan
More languagesFewer languages
union in Bengali
মিলন milon, সঙ্ঘ śoṅgho, ইত্তিহাদ ittihad, ইত্তেফাক ittephak
union in Telugu
యూనియన్, యూనియను
union in Malayalam
ഏകീകരണം ēkīkaraṇaṁ, യൂണിയൻ yūṇiyaṉ, വിവാഹം vivāhaṁ, ബന്ധപ്പെടൽ bandhappeṭal
union in Kannada
ಒಕ್ಕೂಟ okkūṭa
union in Punjabi
ਯੂਨੀਅਨ, ਸੰਘ, ਯੂਨੀਅਨਿੰਗ
union in Gujarati
સંઘ, યુનિયન, સંઘને
union in Odia
ସଂଘ, ଯ଼ୁନିଅନ୍, ଯ଼ୁନିଅନ
union in Assamese
ইউনিয়ন iunin
union in Nepali
युनियन, सङ्घ, संघ
union in Pashto
اتحاد etehād, اتفاق etefāq
union in Tagalog
unyon, kaisahan
union in Arabic
اِتِّحَاد ittiḥād, اِتِّفَاق ittifāq, زَوَاج zawāj
union in Malay
kesatuan
union in Indonesian
kesatuan, uni, persatuan, serikat
union in Thai
สหภาพ sà-hà-pâap
union in Vietnamese
liên minh, liên bang, hợp, hội
union in Myanmar
သမဂ္ဂ sa.magga., ယူနီယန် yuniyan, ပြည်ထောင်စု pranyhtaungcu.

Examples of union in a sentence

  • The skilled trades were the first to organize modern labor unions.
  • The litter was the fruit of the union between our whippet and their terrier.
  • Those election results are a quagmire for any coalition except one of national union.

All 40 example sentences with union

Synonyms of union

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of union

Forms of union

Noun
pluralunions
pluralUnions
Verb
third-person singular presentunions
present participleunioning
past participleunioned
pastunioned
Adjective
comparativemore union
superlativemost union
Proper noun
pluralUnions

Plural of union: unions

Origin of union

From Middle English unyoun, from Old French union, from Late Latin ūniō, ūniōnem (“oneness, unity”), from Latin ūnus (“one”). Doublet of unio.

(locomotive): Derived from the name of the only U.S. company to use that configuration.

Probably a variant spelling of Onion.

Words formed from union

Phrases with union

52 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about union

What does union mean?
Union means the act of uniting or joining two or more things into one.
What is union in Hindi?
Union in Hindi is संयुक्त (sãyukt), संघ (saṅgh), सम्मिलन (sammilan). See Union meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is union?
Union can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce union?
Union is pronounced /ˈjuː.njən/.
What is the plural of union?
The plural of union is unions.

Words near union in the dictionary

  1. unio
  2. uniocular
  3. uniodized
  4. unioid
  5. unioids
  6. union
  7. union axiom
  8. union bug
  9. union bugs
  10. union card
  11. union catalog

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: union (page history and authors); Union (page history and authors); union (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); union (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); union (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); union (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); union (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); union (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-union.wav.

Cite this entry: “union.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/union. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.