ADJ
- friendly, good, happy, harmonious, healthy, strong
- broken, difficult, failed, fragile, poor, stormy, strained, troubled, uneasy
- close, intense, intimate, special
- Britain's special relationship with the US
- enduring, lasting, long-standing, long-term, permanent, serious, stable, steady
- He was not married, but he was in a stable relationship
- brief, casual
- family, human, interpersonal, one-to-one, personal
- doctor-patient, parent-child, etc.
- business, contractual, formal, marital, physical, power, professional, sexual, social, working
- caring, love-hate, loving
VERB + RELATIONSHIP
- enjoy, have
- They enjoyed a close working relationship. The school has a very good relationship with the community. He had brief relationships with several women
- begin, build (up), develop, establish, foster
- Building strong relationships is essential. They established a relationship of trust
- cement, improve, strengthen
- continue, maintain
- handle, manage
- He's not very good at handling personal relationships
- break off
- She broke off the relationship when she found out about his gambling
- destroy
- Lack of trust destroys many relationships
RELATIONSHIP + VERB
- exist
- We want to improve the relationship that exists between the university and the town
- blossom, deepen, develop
- flourish
- work
- I tried everything to make our relationship work
- continue, last
- deteriorate, go wrong, worsen
- break down, break up, fail
RELATIONSHIP + NOUN
- difficulties, problems
- goals
PREP
- in a/the ~
- In normal human relationships there has to be some give and take. At the moment he isn't in a relationship
- ~ among
- The focus is on relationships among European countries
- ~ between, ~ to
- their relationship to each other
- ~ with
PHRASES
- the breakdown of a relationship, a network/web of relationships
ADJ
- blood, family, kin, kinship
PREP
- in a/the ~
- Some people think only about themselves, even in family relationships
- ~ between
- ' What's the relationship between you and Tony? ' ' He's my cousin. '
- ~ to
- What relationship are you to Pat?
ADJ
- close
- There's a close relationship between increased money supply and inflation
- direct
- clear
- complex
- significant
- true
- particular
- inverse, negative
- the inverse relationship between gas consumption and air temperature
- positive
- causal, dynamic, reciprocal
- linear, spatial
- economic, functional, legal
- natural, organic
- symbolic
VERB + RELATIONSHIP
- bear, have
- The fee bears little relationship to the service provided
- examine, explore, look at, study
- His latest book examines the relationship between spatial awareness and mathematical ability
- discover, find
- They discovered a relationship between depression and lack of sunlight
- demonstrate, show
- see, understand
- stand in
- Women and men stand in a different relationship to language
PREP
- in a/the ~
- The different varieties of the language are in a dynamic relationship with each other
- ~ between
- I can't see the relationship between the figures and the diagram
- ~ to
- the relationship of a parasite to its host
- ~ with
PHRASES
- the nature of the relationship