Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - join

~1 v 1 »CONNECT« a) to connect or fasten things together  (Join the two pieces of wood with strong glue. | The hip bone is joined to the thigh bone.) b) to come together and become connected  (Where does the river join the sea?) 2 »GROUP/ORGANIZATION« to become a member of an organization, society, or group  (When did you join the Labour party? | Woods joined the Daily Dispatch as a reporter in 1960.) 3 »ACTIVITY« to begin to take part in an activity that other people are involved in  (join a course/class/scheme etc)  (I joined the class halfway through the second term. | Church leaders have joined the campaign to end fox-hunting.) 4 join a queue/line/row etc to go and stand at the end of a line of people  (Meanwhile, Carl joined the queue for tickets.) 5 join sb (for sth) to meet someone in order to do something together  (I'm going to the theatre tonight. Would you care to join me?) 6 join sb in doing sth to do or say something together with someone else  (I'm sure you'll all join me in thanking today's speaker.) 7 join hands if people join hands, they hold each other's hands 8 join the club! spoken used to say that you and a lot of other people are in the same situation  ("I can't find a job at all." "Yeah? Join the club!") 9 join battle formal to begin fighting 10 be joined in marriage/holy matrimony formal to be married  (- see also join/combine forces force1 (7), if you can't beat `em, join `em beat1 (20))  ( USAGE NOTE: JOIN WORD CHOICE join, enrol (l) in/at, enlist in, go to, come to, attend, join in, participate in If you go to be with someone, you join them He was looking forward to joining his wife/family in Detroit (NOT joining with them).). You may also join (=become a member of) many kinds of groups of people, such as a club, a team, a political party, a tour group, a company, a church, or a congregation (NOT join in). A country may join the EU the UN, or another international organization. You may join the army, navy etc or more formally enlist in it. You go to war (NOT join it). You may join a class, course, or university at the beginning, but the more official word is enrol in/at (AmE enroll) I want to enrol in/join the linguistics class (NOT join to).):| Diane has enrolled at the University of Essex. When you go regularly to a class, school etc, you formally attend it (NOT attend to it). You usually go/come to or more formally attend an event such as a meeting, football game, wedding, church service or official dinner (NOT join). Are you coming to my birthday party? If you actively take part in something that a group is doing, you join in or more formally participate in what it does I hope you will participate in all our club activities. | Chris joined in the class discussion enthusiastically. You go to, attend, or more actively participate in a conference. ) join in phr v to take part in an activity as one of a group of people  (Come on, Ian, join in! You can sing! | join in the fun/party)  (We couldn't wait to join in the fun.) join up phr v to become a member of the army, navy, or airforce join up with sb/sth phr v informal to combine with other people in order to do something  (We joined up with a couple from Derbyshire to make a quiz team.) join with sb phr v formal to do or say something together, as a group  (join with sb in doing sth)  (Please join with me in praying for Sarah's recovery.) ~2 n a place where two parts of an object are connected or fastened together  (you can hardly see the join)  (It's been glued back together so well, you can hardly see the join.)