affinity

af·fin·i·ty

noun \ə-ˈfi-nə-tē\

plural af·fin·i·ties

Definition of AFFINITY

1

: relationship by marriage

2

a : sympathy marked by community of interest : kinship

b (1) : an attraction to or liking for something <people with an affinity to darkness — Mark Twain> <pork and fennel have a natural affinity for each other — Abby Mandel> (2) : an attractive force between substances or particles that causes them to enter into and remain in chemical combination

c : a person especially of the opposite sex having a particular attraction for one

3

a : likeness based on relationship or causal connection <found an affinity between the teller of a tale and the craftsman — Mary McCarthy> <this investigation, with affinities to a case history, a psychoanalysis, a detective story — Oliver Sacks>

b : a relation between biological groups involving resemblance in structural plan and indicating a common origin

Examples of AFFINITY

1. There's always been an affinity between us.
2. He never felt any affinity with the other kids in his neighborhood.
3. Jefferson's personal debts continued to mount … . His addiction to French wine, like his affinity for French ideas, never came to grips with the more mundane realities. —Joseph J. Ellis, American Heritage, May/June 1993
4. … neither virus has an affinity for T cells. —Robert C. Gallo, Scientific American, 1987
5. Animals sharing this basic architecture may have no closer affinity than a beetle and a squid. —Stephen Jay Gould, Natural History, 1985

Origin of AFFINITY

Middle English affinite, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French affinité, from Latin affinitas, from affinis bordering on, related by marriage, from ad- + finis end, border

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to AFFINITY

Synonyms

affection, inclination, aptitude, bent, bias, bone, devices, disposition, genius, habitude, impulse, leaning, partiality, penchant, predilection, predisposition, proclivity, propensity, tendency, turn

Related Words

favor, one-sidedness, partisanship, prejudice; endowment, faculty, flair, genius, gift, knack, talent; addiction, appetite, fancy, fondness, like, liking, preference, taste; forte, speciality, specialty; convention, custom, habit, pattern, practice (also practise), routine, trick, way, wont; eccentricity, idiosyncrasy, kink, oddity, peculiarity, quirk, singularity

Near Antonyms

allergy, averseness, aversion, disfavor, disinclination, dislike, disliking, disrelish, distaste; detachment, impartiality, neutrality, objectivity; apathy, disinterestedness, indifference, insouciance, nonchalance, unconcern

See Synonym Discussion at attraction

Rhymes with AFFINITY

bovinity, concinnity, divinity, felinity, feminity, infinity, latinity, salinity, sanguinity, vicinity, virginity

af·fin·i·ty

noun \ə-ˈfin-ət-ē\   (Medical Dictionary)

plural ; af·fin·i·ties

Medical Definition of AFFINITY

1

: an attractive force between substances or particles that causes them to enter into and remain in chemical combination

2

: a relation between biological groups involving resemblance in structural plan and indicating a common origin