relation
- relative - relationship
These words are used to refer to people or to connections between people.
‘relation’ and ‘relative’
Your relations or relatives are the members of your family.
I said that I was a relation of her first husband.
I'm going to visit some relatives.
The relations between people or groups are the contacts between them and the way they behave towards each other.
Relations between the two men had not improved.
Britain has close relations with the US.
‘relationship’
You can talk in a similar way about the relationship between two people or groups.
The old relationship between the friends was quickly re-established.
Senor Zapatero has shown that he is keen to have a close relationship with Britain.
A relationship is also a close friendship between two people, especially one involving sexual or romantic feelings.
When the relationship ended two months ago, he was very upset.