relationship

Noun

• (anthropology) relatedness or connection by blood or marriage or adoption

• a state involving mutual dealings between people or parties or countries

• a state of connectedness between people (especially an emotional connection)
  • he didn't want his wife to know of the relationship
    

• a relation between people; (`relationship' is often used where `relation' would serve, as in `the relationship between inflation and unemployment', but the preferred usage of `relationship' is for human relations or states of relatedness)
  • the relationship between mothers and their children
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  kinship , family relationship , human relationship