Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - union

(unions) Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English. 1. A union is a workers’ organization which represents its members and which aims to improve things such as their working conditions and pay. I feel that women in all types of employment can benefit from joining a union. ...union officials. = trade union N-COUNT 2. When the union of two or more things occurs, they are joined together and become one thing. In 1918 the Romanian majority in this former tsarist province voted for union with Romania. N-UNCOUNT: oft N with/of n 3. When two or more things, for example countries or organizations, have been joined together to form one thing, you can refer to them as a union. Tanzania is a union of the states of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. ...the question of which countries should join the currency union. N-SING: usu with supp, oft N of pl-n 4. Union is used in the name of some clubs, societies, and organizations. The naming of stars is at the discretion of the International Astronomical Union. N-IN-NAMES