love affair
Americannoun
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love affairs
plural
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a romantic relationship or episode between lovers; an amour.
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an active enthusiasm for something.
my love affair with sailing.
noun
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a romantic or sexual relationship, esp a temporary one, between two people
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a great enthusiasm or liking for something
a love affair with ballet
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An intimate sexual relationship, as in They had a torrid love affair many years ago . This expression dates from about 1600, when it referred merely to the experiences connected with being in love. The current sense dates from the second half of the 1800s.
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A strong enthusiasm, as in We can't ignore America's love affair with the automobile . [Mid-1900s]
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of love affair
First recorded in 1585–95
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.
Whether this latest love affair with leverage in the U.S. ends the same way South Korea’s did remains to be seen.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 30, 2026
It’s the grunting culmination of a love affair that began when Higdon, a retired cancer surgeon, encountered a line of yaks in Nepal not far from Mt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
A life-long love affair with Gwynedd led to Bev Hooper, 67, from Yorkshire, investing in a three-bedroom property with her sister on the Llŷn Peninsula 30 years ago.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Many a teenage love affair began or ended there.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
You would have thought that in time she would have got over her first love affair and found another love, but she did not.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
