associate with – English Grammar Profiler

In the English Vocabulary Profile, there are 3 levels for the phrase ‘associate with‘.

B2 to be related to something or caused by something
C1 [T] to connect someone or something in your mind with someone or something else
C2 to spend time with a group of people, especially people who are disapproved of

It is not easy to say which level the following example best relates to:

I didn’t want Nikki to think that I was associated with that kind of sexual behavior because I‘ve never done anything like that.

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Well, associating with criminals, if you‘re the one they talked to, that would be a violation of your parole.

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A collocate search in COCA for ‘ASSOCIATE with’

1 RISK 1724 2 COSTS 1424 3 PROBLEMS 1379 4 INCREASED 1213 5 FACTORS 1212 6 RISKS 1046 7 HIGHER 1028 8 SIGNIFICANTLY 1020 9 LEVELS 730

10 CLOSELY 710