connections

The plural is regular, but not every meaning of connection can take it. The act of connecting is uncountable, so it has no plural. The countable meanings do: points where things join, communication or transport links, transfers between scheduled services, ties of kinship, even moments of rapport. Travelers miss their connections, and families count distant connections. Two further meanings exist only in the plural: useful acquaintances and a racehorse's backers.

Here the word works only in the plural. A person has connections, and the meaning lies in the network rather than in any single acquaintance. It shades into the ordinary plural, since relatives are also connections. What sets this sense apart is leverage: these are people who can open doors, which is why the word so often carries a hint of advantage gained through who one knows.

A racing word for everyone with a financial stake in an animal, typically the owner, the trainer and the people around them. It is plural-only and almost always takes the definite article. You read that the connections celebrated or that the connections were questioned by stewards. Outside a racing context, the same phrase would more likely be heard as useful acquaintances.