strong ties
Intimate social connections
Strong ties are close, emotionally significant relationships—family members, best friends, romantic partners.
The term comes from sociology, where it contrasts with weak ties (acquaintances, distant contacts).
Strong ties provide emotional support and trust but tend to circulate the same information and opportunities.
Weak ties, paradoxically, often prove more useful for job leads and new ideas because they bridge different social circles.
- familyRelated people together
- blood relativesFamily by birth
- family bondsConnections uniting relatives
- loyaltyFaithful commitment to another
- ride or dieUnfailingly loyal person
thick and thin · friendship · old friends · intimacy · trust · heart strings · roots · community · kinship · support · support system · belonging · attachment · devotion · network · social network · solidarity · reliable
- social capitalconnections, networks, relationships, reciprocity, social bonds
- bondsbond, corporate bond, corporate bonds, government bond, municipal bond
- contactsfriend, family, contact list, neighbor, acquaintances
- social networksfriends, followers, mutual friends, friend requests, social circle
- networkingrouter, routers, LAN, WAN, switches
- Six DegreesKevin Bacon, degrees, separation, connection, mutual friends
strong tiesweak ties
Loose social connections
loose connections · nodding acquaintances · strangers · fair-weather friends · contacts
strong, stronger, strongest, strongly, strength, strengths, strengthen, strengthens, strengthened