affair

noun

af·​fair ə-ˈfer 

1

a

affairs plural : commercial, professional, public, or personal business

handles the company's public affairs

an expert in foreign affairs

b

: matter, concern

How I choose to live is my affair, not yours.

2

: a procedure, action, or occasion only vaguely specified

also : an object or collection of objects only vaguely specified

Their house was a 2-story affair.

3

or less commonly affaire

a

: a romantic or passionate attachment typically of limited duration : liaison sense 2b

had an affair with a coworker

b

: a matter occasioning public anxiety, controversy, or scandal : case

the Watergate affair of the early 1970s

Synonyms

• amour
• fling
• love
• love affair
• romance

Examples of affair in a Sentence

After the war, the government focused on its own domestic affairs.

They accused the U.S. of interfering in the internal affairs of other nations.

How I choose to live is my affair, not yours.

adulterous affairs between married men and single women

Recent Examples on the Web

The city’s immigrant affairs office is currently a lean two-person team, with Aragon and a language access coordinator. —Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2025

Trump's comments follow a string of legal wins for Harvard's leaders, who vowed in April to fight back against what many onlookers in higher education have described as unprecedented interference by the federal government in a campus's affairs. —Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 21 June 2025

Later, his public image was of a contented husband, but his extramarital affairs have been the subject of recent media attention. —Kirsty McHugh, Literary Hub, 20 June 2025

One scenario involved the AI discovering through an inbox that an employee was having an affair. —Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 20 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English aferes "activities," affaire "enterprise," borrowed from Anglo-French afaire, affere "business, activity, enterprise, matter, topic, situation," from the phrase a faire "to do," from a "to" (going back to Latin ad) + faire "to do," going back to Latin facere — more at at entry 1, do entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing affair

• love affair
• none of someone's affair/business

Rhymes for affair

• abwehr
• affaire
• airfare
• altair
• armchair
• aware
• beware
• bugbear
• carfare
• childcare
• compare
• cookware

Kids Definition

affair

noun

af·​fair ə-ˈfa(ə)r 

-ˈfe(ə)r

1

a

plural : commercial, professional, public, or personal business

government affairs

arranged my affairs before leaving

b

: concern entry 2 sense 1, matter

not your affair at all

2

a

: event sense 1b, activity

a social affair

b

: product sense 2, thing

the house was a two-story affair

3

: a brief romantic relationship