affection
1 Americannoun
noun
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fond attachment, devotion, or love.
the affection of a parent for an only child.
- Synonyms:
- friendship, fondness, amity, friendliness, liking
- Antonyms:
- dislike
-
Often affections
-
Pathology. a disease, or the condition of being diseased; abnormal state of body or mind.
a gouty affection.
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the act of affecting; act of influencing or acting upon.
-
the state of being affected.
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Philosophy. a contingent, alterable, and accidental state or quality of being.
-
the affective aspect of a mental process.
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bent or disposition of mind.
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Obsolete. bias; prejudice.
noun
-
a feeling of fondness or tenderness for a person or thing; attachment
-
(often plural) emotion, feeling, or sentiment
to play on a person's affections
-
pathol any disease or pathological condition
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psychol any form of mental functioning that involves emotion See also affect 1
-
the act of affecting or the state of being affected
-
archaic inclination or disposition
Usage
What are other ways to say affection?
Affection refers to fond attachment, as of one person to another. How is affection different from love and devotion? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
- affectional adjective
- affectionless adjective
Etymology
Origin of affection1
First recorded in 1525–35; affect 2 + -ion
Origin of affection1
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin affectiōn- (stem of affectiō ) “disposition or state of mind or body”; affect 1, -ion
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.
His good cheer and evident affection for India won him the friendship and trust of many of the top rank of the country's politicians, editors and social activists.
From BBC
And they seemed to have genuine affection for their host.
From Literature
Morocco's federation showed constant affection, explaining the country, its customs and its vision.
From BBC
"But facial affection is equally important for any robotic application involving human interaction."
From Science Daily
Not even the creature’s eloquence moves Victor to self-reflection: “O Frankenstein, be not equitable to every other, and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy clemency and affection, is most due.”
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.
