affair
Americannoun
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anything done or to be done; anything requiring action or effort; business; concern.
an affair of great importance.
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affairs, matters of commercial or public interest or concern; the transactions of public or private business or finance.
affairs of state; Before taking such a long trip you should put all your affairs in order.
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an event or a performance; a particular action, operation, or proceeding.
When did this affair happen?
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thing; matter (applied to anything made or existing, usually with a descriptive or qualifying term).
Our new computer is an amazing affair.
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a private or personal concern; a special function, business, or duty.
That's none of your affair.
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an intense amorous relationship, usually of short duration.
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an event or happening that occasions or arouses notoriety, dispute, and often public scandal; incident.
the Congressional bribery affair.
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a party, social gathering, or other organized festive occasion.
The awards ceremony is the biggest affair on the school calendar.
noun
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a thing to be done or attended to; matter; business
this affair must be cleared up
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an event or happening
a strange affair
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(qualified by an adjective or descriptive phrase) something previously specified, esp a man-made object; thing
our house is a tumbledown affair
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a sexual relationship between two people who are not married to each other
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of affair
1250–1300; earlier affaire < French, Old French afaire for a faire to do, equivalent to a (< Latin ad to) + faire ≪ Latin facere; replacing Middle English afere < Old French
Explanation
If your grandfather was so startled by people shouting "Surprise!" at his birthday party that he had a mild heart attack, you'd probably want to just forget the whole affair. An affair is a specific event. You can use affair as a kind of shorthand, to mean "that big mess," or "that complicated story I already told you about." Your affair can also mean your responsibility or job, like if your grandmother said, "I don't care about balloons for the party — that's your affair." Another way affair is frequently used is to mean a love affair, particularly if the relationship is brief and intense. This meaning comes from the French phrase affaire de coeur, "affair of the heart."
Vocabulary lists containing affair
The Poet X
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act V
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Because of Winn-Dixie
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That case in the 1980s, known as The Line 300 Affair, involved servicemen from Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, who were pardoned over concerns that state secrets could be exposed in the trial.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025
From The Thomas Crown Affair to Inside Man, audiences adore the art of the steal.
From Salon • Oct. 19, 2025
"It is our turn to talk," the email said, according to the A Current Affair programme on the Nine network.
From BBC • Sep. 24, 2025
A long time ago, Sydney Pollack greeted me after a screening of ‘The Thomas Crown Affair.’
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 27, 2025
It didn't matter that it was almost midnight when my sister and Claudia filled me in on the Connor Affair.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
