affected

af·fect·ed

adj \ə-ˈfek-təd, a-\

Definition of AFFECTED

1

: inclined, disposed <was well affected toward her>

2

a : having or showing an attitude or mode of behavior that is not natural or genuinely felt : given to or marked by affectation <spoke in an affected manner> b : assumed artificially or falsely : pretended <an affected interest in art>

— af·fect·ed·ly adverb

— af·fect·ed·ness noun

Examples of AFFECTED

1. <affected laughter at the boss's jokes>
2. <with her pinkie extended, the four-year-old held her tiny teacup in that affected manner that some women have>
3. Leinart laughs with his friends about the parallels with his favorite TV show, but he's sensitive about the perception that he's an affected socialite. —Michael Silver, Sports Illustrated, 23 July 2007
4. … he accused the literary establishment of eschewing good clean writing and advancing affected, artsy prose instead. —Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review, 9 Sept. 2001
5. Without this fraught boundary between old money and new, between inherited and affected tastes, some of our greatest writers would have had to find something else to write about. —E.B. Harper, Civilization, June/July 2000
6. With a workmanlike thoroughness, they alter their diction and mannerisms for each new role—for example, Kidman drops her voice at least half an octave and adopts a suitably tailored upper-class accent to portray an affected starlet who carries a teddy bear to surreptitious trysts. —Celia Wren, Commonweal, 26 Feb. 1999

Origin of AFFECTED

(see ²affect)

First Known Use: 1587

Related to AFFECTED

Synonyms: artificial, assumed, bogus, contrived, factitious, fake, false, feigned, forced, mechanical, mock, phony (also phoney), plastic, pretended, pseudo, put-on, sham, simulated, spurious, strained, unnatural

Antonyms: artless, genuine, natural, spontaneous, unaffected, uncontrived, unfeigned, unforced

Related Words: automatic, canned, concocted, fabricated, hokey, labored, manufactured, pat, unauthentic, unreal, unrealistic; double-dealing, empty, facile, hollow, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, two-faced, unctuous; exaggerated, histrionic, melodramatic, overacted, overdone, theatrical (also theatric); cute, cutesy, genteel, goody-goody, mincing, overrefined, simpering; conventional, formal, impersonal, inflexible, rigid, stiff, stylized, wooden; artful, calculated, conscious, cultivated, deliberate, premeditated, studied

Near Antonyms: authentic, bona fide, real, realistic, right, true; honest, ingenuous, sincere, unpretending; easy, effortless, smooth; extemporaneous, impromptu, impulsive, instinctive, unconscious, unprompted, unrehearsed, unstudied

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Rhymes with AFFECTED

collected, complected, connected, dejected, directed, dissected