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:
Thus Lincoln learned and knew that among all men, and between all men and God there was a fundamental ground of imperishable affiance.
From Abraham Lincoln's Cardinal Traits; A Study in Ethics, with an Epilogue Addressed to Theologians by Clark S. Beardslee
William made use of Harald’s compulsory sojourn to make him swear allegiance to him, and affiance him to his daughter.
From The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade) by Ethel Harriet Hearn
Our English "affiance," "defiance," "confidence," "diffidence," retain accurate meanings; but our "faithful" has become obscure, from being used for "faithworthy," as well as "full of faith."
From Unto This Last and Other Essays on Political Economy by John Ruskin
It is not well done for a king to affiance himself to one woman when he already has another for his wife.
From Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15) The Romance of Reality. Scandinavian. by Charles Morris
Jealousy and distrust are the bane of friendship, whose essence is esteem and affiance.
From Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, Addressed to a Lady by Hester Chapone
Willis, 30, on Monday made the announcement on Instagram, confirming that she and musician Justin Acee are affianced.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2024
However, usually the affianced couple can stick it out long enough to break up in private once the show is completely done.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2024
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
Being gay is a great thing to be ostentatious about, although using the correct pronouns to refer to your affianced hardly reaches “ostentatious” levels, in my book.
From Slate ● Jan. 4, 2017
One of them is Miss Gascoyne's affianced lover, and she is a very old friend indeed.
From For Jacinta by Harold Bindloss
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
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
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
Rumour said he had been on the point of affiancing another to one of the men now in prison.
From Twenty Years Of Balkan Tangle by M. E. (Mary Edith) Durham
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
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