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
- There's always been an affinity between us.
- He never felt any affinity with the other kids in his neighborhood.
- 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
- … neither virus has an affinity for T cells. —Robert C. Gallo, Scientific American, 1987
- Animals sharing this basic architecture may have no closer affinity than a beetle and a squid. —Stephen Jay Gould, Natural History, 1985
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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
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