affair
Americannoun
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affairs
plural
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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.
See Examples For:
The affair was a "real earthquake" for the French book trade, Charlotte Allibert, co-founder of Librinova, a self-publishing company and literary agency, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
He believes she was dragged, unwittingly, into the whole affair.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
I sincerely hope this is a love affair to remember for all the right, rather than wrong, reasons.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
It was a visual affair designed to project a new phase of managed competition between a prevailing superpower and a rising one — a message that Washington and Beijing are ultimately capable of responsible leadership.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
“I have sent for you on an affair of importance. I understand that Mr. Collins has made you an offer of marriage. Is it true?”
From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
Asking the question is certainly a brazen, if not entirely unusual, state of affairs in families, especially if she considers herself a de facto guardian.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Jorge Messi, who died in August aged 68, looked after his son's affairs from the start, and some of his early advice led the family into trouble with the tax authorities in Spain.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
On the other hand, the projection of American might into the affairs of another country, while hardly unprecedented, gave many experts pause.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Xavier joined the Journal in 2024 as a news associate, a two-year role that included stints covering politics in Washington, traveling the country for the national affairs team and reporting on financial markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Social alliances and political rivalries were long-term affairs.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
