affluent
Americanadjective
-
having an abundance of wealth, property, or other material goods; prosperous; rich.
an affluent person.
-
abounding in anything; abundant.
- Synonyms:
- teeming
-
flowing freely.
an affluent fountain.
noun
-
a tributary stream.
-
an affluent person.
a luxurious resort appealing to young affluents.
adjective
-
rich; wealthy
-
abundant; copious
-
flowing freely
noun
Synonym Usage
See rich.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonaffluentadjective
-
subaffluentadjective
-
superaffluentadjective
-
unaffluentadjective
-
affluentlyadverb
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subaffluentlyadverb
-
superaffluentlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of affluent
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin affluent- (stem of affluēns “rich”; originally present participle of affluere ), equivalent to af- af- + flu- “flow” + -ent -ent
Explanation
You know you're driving through an affluent neighborhood when you see large houses, perfect landscaping, and expensive cars. Use affluent to describe wealthy people or areas. In Middle English, affluent meant "abundant, flowing," from Old French, from Latin affluēns, from affluere "to abound in," from the prefix ad- "to, at" plus fluere "to flow." The meaning of "abundant, flowing" is still seen in phrases such as "affluent prose." But mostly, when you use the word affluent, the thing understood to be flowing is cash.
Vocabulary lists containing affluent
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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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.
The other two non-affluent patterns were also associated generally with more adverse outcomes compared with the affluent pattern.
From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2023
But many people in villages like Vasilati and non-affluent city neighbourhoods have little room to cut back.
From Reuters • Oct. 19, 2022
Women, young people, people of color, and non-affluent residents were more likely to contribute through vouchers.
From Slate • Dec. 26, 2018
Forty years ago, for a brief stretch of my long, non-affluent slog through graduate school, I lived at 30 Francis Avenue, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the house of Professor and Mrs. John Kenneth Galbraith.
From The New Yorker • May 25, 2015
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.
