The United States

the States, Columbia, America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, God's Country, the land of opportunity, the Colossus of the North; see also America 2, United States.

The North in the American Civil War

the Free States, Anti-Slavery States, the Northern States, Federalists; see north.

The act of joining

unity, unification, junction, meeting, uniting, joining, coupling, embracing, coming together, merging, fusion, mingling, concurrence, amalgam, symbiosis, commixture, amalgamation, concatenation, confluence, congregation, reconciliation, conciliation, correlation, combination, connection, annexation, linking, attachment, agglutination, coalition, conjunction, abutment, consolidation, incorporation, centralization, affiliation, confederation, copulation, coition.

Antonyms divorce*, separation*, severance. *

A closely knit group

alliance, association, federation, society; see alliance 3, organization 3.

A marriage

wedlock, conjugal ties, matrimony, cohabitation, nuptial connection, match, matrimonial affiliation, double harness*, connubial bliss*.

A labor union

laborers, workingmen, employees; see labor 4. See syn. study at alliance, unity.