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:
Election night news coverage is a stressful affair in the best of times.
From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2026
"Helen and Adam were the love affair that will last forever. Their warmth, generosity and gift for making people feel welcome touched so many lives," the statement reads.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
In Nick Groom’s collection, blood-soaked tales from John William Polidori, Sheridan Le Fanu, Edgar Allan Poe and many others display the 19th century’s long love affair with the charismatic undead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Several months later, the affair took a bizarre turn after his beloved "Rasta Bambi", a doe he had lovingly raised on his farm in Mali, went missing.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
“I’m sure they would put together the most elegant affair if you agreed to be part of it.”
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
She flubbed softball questions around foreign affairs on the debate stage, a strong suit of her hawkish brother.
From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2026
The answers to these two final questions will determine much in world affairs in the next couple of years.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
Policy analyst Mayala said Kabila's involvement could help Rwanda counter accusations that it was interfering in Congo's internal affairs.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
He appointed the state’s first-ever deputy secretary for tribal affairs at the Natural Resources Agency.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
“Around this time, all kinds of booby-trapped trinkets were being scattered on our airfield,” said Vera Tikhomirova, the 586th Regiment’s deputy commander for political affairs.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
