Affair
[ə'feə] or [ə'fɛr]
Definition
(noun.) a vaguely specified social event; 'the party was quite an affair'; 'an occasion arranged to honor the president'; 'a seemingly endless round of social functions'.
(noun.) a usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship.
Editor: Rufus--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) That which is done or is to be done; matter; concern; as, a difficult affair to manage; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public; -- often in the plural. "At the head of affairs." Junius.
(n.) Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely; as, an affair of honor, i. e., a duel; an affair of love, i. e., an intrigue.
(n.) An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.
(n.) Action; endeavor.
(n.) A material object (vaguely designated).
Typed by Belinda
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Business, concern, matter, circumstance, question, subject.[2]. Event, occurrence, incident, transaction, proceeding, performance.[3]. Battle, engagement, combat, conflict, contest, encounter, rencontre, collision, skirmish, brush.
Checker: Prudence
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Matter, business, concern, subject, topic, transaction
ANT:Detail, item, point, feature, circumstance
Checker: Mattie
Definition
n. that which is to be done: business: any small matter: a battle of minor importance: a matter of intimate personal concern as a duel—a so-called affair of honour or an intrigue: (pl.) transactions in general: public concerns.
Checked by Claudia
Examples
- Jo went and sat on one arm of the chair, looking as if she thought they were about to join in some very solemn affair. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- There will be no difficulty about this affair, Alexandros? Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I really see no prospect of throwing any light whatever on this extraordinary affair. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- You had a love affair all summer and got this girl with child and now I suppose you'll sneak off. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- A strange affair! Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- In this affair, as in every other, Little Dorrit herself was the last person considered. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the affair. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- I never understood it from Aunt Shaw; I only knew he could not come back to England because of that terrible affair. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- But I think I have the key of the affair now. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- The house in Yorkshire was associated with the scandalous affair of the lost Moonstone. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- The whole of this doctrine leads us to a conclusion, which is of great importance in the present affair, viz. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- But it is not merely this affair, she continued, on which my dislike is founded. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- In what state the affair stood at present between them, Edward knew not, for no communication with any of his family had yet been attempted by him. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- It seems to have been a very deliberate affair. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- You are a far more competent judge of such affairs than I am. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Consols; for so it was that Becky felt the Vanity of human affairs, and it was in those securities that she would have liked to cast anchor. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Because, there is always such a thing as an adjustment of affairs, in the case of people of any standing at all. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Of course he understands his own affairs. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- We have already told something of the first appearance of the free intelligence, the spirit of inquiry and plain statement, in human affairs. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Don't you think you might find some affairs there, ma'am, to interfere with? Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- He opposed the existing state of affairs on the ground that it formed neither the citizen nor the man. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Too often the pupil comes out with a smattering which is too superficial to be scientific and too technical to be applicable to ordinary affairs. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The miserable poor devils knew all about his affairs. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- This led him to review the existing state of affairs (1780) and to compare it with the state of affairs during the decline of imperial Rome. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I didn't know,' remarked Mr Fledgeby, trying a new part of his chair, 'but that Lammle might be reserved about his affairs. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I know somewhere about what things are likely to be; but there's no trimming and squaring my affairs, as Chloe trims crust off her pies. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Miss Hale, I would rather not hear Mr. Lennox's opinion of my affairs. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- All of this is very reminiscent of the religious and political state of affairs in Greece fourteen centuries earlier. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But to suppose that the remedy lies in waiting for monographs from the research of the laboratory is to have lost a sense of the rhythm of actual affairs. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Editor: Nettie