Affectation
[æfek'teɪʃ(ə)n] or [,æfɛk'teʃən]
Definition
(n.) An attempt to assume or exhibit what is not natural or real; false display; artificial show.
(n.) A striving after.
(n.) Fondness; affection.
Editor: Val
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Pretension, airs, affectedness, mannerism, assumed manners, affected manner.
Edited by Gillian
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Pretence, artifice, hypocrisy, assumption, simulation, mannerism, euphuism,airs
ANT:Genuineness, naturalness, un_affectedness, simplicity, artlessness
Inputed by Alex
Examples
- She did not believe in the spiritual world--it was an affectation. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The affectation of the gauzy child, and her condescension to the boys, was a sight. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- She was far above the paltry affectation of being confused. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Why, said the lady, with much affectation, you see I was daily, nay hourly, expecting to get settled in life. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- The duke seeing that mine was real agitation and not affectation, condescended to unbend a little. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- She had even learnt to detect, in the very gentleness which had first delighted her, an affectation and a sameness to disgust and weary. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- I suspect, said Elinor, that to avoid one kind of affectation, Edward here falls into another. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- It is only against the weak affectation and futile pomposity of a would-be aristocrat they turn mutinous. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Knighthood was becoming a picturesque affectation in the sixteenth century. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- He praised her for being without art or affectation, for having simple, honest, generous, feelings. Jane Austen. Emma.
- He is fastidious and will have an affectation of his own. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Your indifference is half affectation, and a good stirring up would prove it. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- There was no affectation in this; but much genuine, innate pride. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his case. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- It is true, sir,' returned Mrs. Sparsit, with an affectation of humility the very opposite of his, and therefore in no danger of jostling it. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
Typed by Brian