affiance
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
-
a pledging of faith, as a marriage contract.
-
trust; confidence; reliance.
verb
noun
Etymology
Origin of affiance
1300–50; Middle English < Middle French afiance, equivalent to afi ( er ) to pledge faith, declare on oath, betroth (< Medieval Latin affīdāre, equivalent to ad- ad- + *fīdāre, for Latin fīdere to trust; see confide) + -ance -ance
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:
And this affiance was in its being moral.
From Abraham Lincoln's Cardinal Traits; A Study in Ethics, with an Epilogue Addressed to Theologians by Clark S. Beardslee
The act of betrothing, or the fact of being betrothed; a mutual promise, engagement, or contract for a future marriage between the persons betrothed; betrothment; affiance.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster
Now must he bid farewell to the mountain, for he is going home to his mother who will affiance him to the daughter of the Pope Nicholas.
From Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs (1886) by Countess Evelyn Martinengo-Cesaresco
Ne'er shalt thou rue thy dear affiance: Him that I love, oh let me know!’
From Stories of the Wagner Opera by H. A. (Hélène Adeline) Guerber
Lancelot, my Lancelot, thou in whom I have Most joy and most affiance.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster
The “Beast Games” host, 26, who is the most-subscribed-to YouTuber, proposed to his girlfriend of two years on Christmas Day and revealed on New Year’s Day that they were affianced.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2025
The series follows couples who have applied for a K-1 visa, allowing a U.S. citizen to bring over their affianced love from another country.
From Salon ● Dec. 22, 2018
Lindo gets off relatively easy by “only” being affianced to a stranger at age 4.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2018
The affianced co-hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” it turns out, have also been named visiting fellows to Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 13, 2017
Among the others came Christine, Karl's former affianced, heartwhole and smiling, already betrothed to a new lover; but no Wilhelmina.
From Solomon by Constance Fenimore Woolson
Sydney tries to escape the pity of ever-present hotel guests by affiancing herself to a sanguine, vacationing clergyman aged 40, but the clergyman is quickly followed by an anticlimax.
From Time Magazine Archive
You know, to me, Clara, plighted faith, the affiancing of two lovers, is a piece of religion.
From The Egoist by George Meredith
The king survived these transactions two years; but nothing memorable occurs in the remaining part of his reign, except his affiancing his second daughter, Mary, to the young archduke Charles, son of Philip of Castile.
From The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part C. From Henry VII. to Mary by David Hume
Then they feasted, with unearthly servitors to attend them, and did all else appropriate to an affiancing of deities.
From Figures of Earth by James Branch Cabell
The famous affiancing in New York of a coachman with the daughter of the millionaire who employed him did not turn out well.
From Around The Tea-Table by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage
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