diff --git a/src/biocutils/__init__.py b/src/biocutils/__init__.py
index 9801f3d..b12c56a 100644
--- a/src/biocutils/__init__.py
+++ b/src/biocutils/__init__.py
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@
 from .combine_columns import combine_columns
 from .combine_sequences import combine_sequences
 
+from .relaxed_combine_columns import relaxed_combine_columns
+from .relaxed_combine_rows import relaxed_combine_rows
+
 from .extract_row_names import extract_row_names
 from .extract_column_names import extract_column_names
 
@@ -51,4 +54,4 @@
 from .convert_to_dense import convert_to_dense
 
 from .get_height import get_height
-from .is_high_dimensional import is_high_dimensional
+from .is_high_dimensional import is_high_dimensional
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/biocutils/relaxed_combine_columns.py b/src/biocutils/relaxed_combine_columns.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4e2747
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/biocutils/relaxed_combine_columns.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+from functools import singledispatch
+from typing import Any
+
+from .package_utils import is_package_installed
+
+__author__ = "jkanche"
+__copyright__ = "jkanche"
+__license__ = "MIT"
+
+
+@singledispatch
+def relaxed_combine_columns(*x: Any):
+    """Combine n-dimensional objects along the second dimension.
+
+    Args:
+        x:
+            n-dimensional objects to combine. All elements of x are expected
+            to be the same class.
+
+    Returns:
+        Combined object, typically the same type as the first entry of ``x``
+    """
+    raise NotImplementedError(
+        "no `combine_columns` method implemented for '"
+        + type(x[0]).__name__
+        + "' objects."
+    )
+
+
+if is_package_installed("pandas") is True:
+    from pandas import DataFrame, concat
+
+    @relaxed_combine_columns.register(DataFrame)
+    def _relaxed_combine_columns_pandas_dataframe(*x):
+        return concat(x, axis=1)
diff --git a/src/biocutils/relaxed_combine_rows.py b/src/biocutils/relaxed_combine_rows.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2dc634b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/biocutils/relaxed_combine_rows.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+from functools import singledispatch
+from typing import Any
+
+from .package_utils import is_package_installed
+
+__author__ = "jkanche"
+__copyright__ = "jkanche"
+__license__ = "MIT"
+
+
+@singledispatch
+def relaxed_combine_rows(*x: Any):
+    """Combine n-dimensional objects along their first dimension.
+
+    Args:
+        x:
+            One or more n-dimensional objects to combine. All elements of x
+            are expected to be the same class.
+
+    Returns:
+        Combined object, typically the same type as the first entry of ``x``.
+    """
+    raise NotImplementedError(
+        "no `combine_rows` method implemented for '" + type(x[0]).__name__ + "' objects."
+    )
+
+
+if is_package_installed("pandas"):
+    from pandas import DataFrame, concat
+
+    @relaxed_combine_rows.register(DataFrame)
+    def _relaxed_combine_rows_pandas_dataframe(*x):
+        return concat(x, axis=0)