An N-ary relation is a mathematical concept that generalizes the idea of a relation between multiple elements. Unlike binary relations, which involve pairs of elements, an N-ary relation can involve three or more elements. For example, a relation among three people, such as Alice, Bob, Charlie, can represent a friendship group where all three are connected. In databases, N-ary relations are often used to model complex relationships among entities. For instance, a relation might connect students, courses, instructors, indicating which students are enrolled in which courses and who teaches them. This allows for a more comprehensive representation of data in relational databases.