affection
Syllables: af·fec·tion/əˈfɛk.ʃən/
affection noun: the act of affecting or acting upon.
Noun
affection (countable and uncountable, plural affections)
- The act of affecting or acting upon.
- The state of being affected, especially: a change in, or alteration of, the emotional state of a person or other animal, caused by a subjective affect (a subjective feeling or emotion), which arises in response to a stimulus which may result from either thought or perception.
- An attribute; a quality or property; a condition.
- A Porism is a proposition in which it is proposed to demonstrate that some one thing, or more things than one, are given, to which, as also to each of innumerable other things, not given indeed, but which have the same relation to those which are given, it is to be shewn that there belongs some...1756, Robert Simson, Euclid's Elements
- An emotion; a feeling or natural impulse acting upon and swaying the mind.
- Our affections for wild animals are distributed very unevenly. Take insects.2013 August 23, Mark Cocker, “Wings of Desire”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 11, page 26
- It is known that each individual has a variety of affections, one affection when in joy, another when in grief, another when in sympathy and compassion, another when in sincerity and truth, another when in love and charity, another when in zeal or in anger, another when in simulation and deceit...1905, Emanuel Swedenborg, chapter 27, in John C. Ager, transl., Heaven and Hell
- Synonyms:
- attachment, fondness, kindness, love, passion, tenderness
- A feeling of love or strong attachment; a feeling of enjoyable and comforting fondness.
- I have a lot of affection for my little sister.
- The marriage therapist suggested they show each other more affection.
- A disease; a morbid symptom; a malady.
- a pulmonary affection1834, Samuel George Morton, Illustrations of Pulmonary Consumption
- The recedent or retrograde form is marked by a sudden subsidence of the inflammatory state of the joints, succeeded immediately by an affection of some internal part, where is thenceforth the seat of the morbid manifestations.1851, Russell Thacher Trall, The Hydropathic Encyclopedia, page 123
Verb
affection (third-person singular simple present affections, present participle affectioning, simple past and past participle affectioned)
- To feel affection for.
- Why, truth is truth, I do not think my lady Isabella ever much affectioned my young lord, your son: yet he was a sweet youth as one should see.1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, section V
affection meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
affection in Hindi
- any emotion
- स्नेह sneh, प्यार pyār
- feeling of love or strong attachment
- स्नेह sneh
affection in Tamil
- பாசம், அன்பு, பற்றாசை, உள்ளன்பு, நேசம், விருப்பம்
affection in Marathi
- affection, endearment, indulgence
- लाड lāḍ
- affection
- जिव्हाळा jivhāḷā, प्रेम prem
- affection, warmth
- आपलेपणा āpalepaṇā
- affection; fondness; warmth — a feeling of closeness or emotional attachment
- आपुलकी āpulakī
affection in Urdu
- affection; compassion
- شفقت śafqat
- affection
- محبت muhabbat, دیا dayā, کام kām, مہر mehar
- affection; attachment
- پیار pyār
More languagesFewer languages
- affection in Bengali
- স্নেহ sneho, আদর ador, সোহাগ śōhag, আকর্ষণ akorśon
- affection in Telugu
- మమత mamata, అనురాగం anurāgaṁ
- affection in Malayalam
- കൂറ് kūṟŭ, സ്നേഹം snēhaṁ, അൻപ് aṉpŭ
- affection in Kannada
- ಪ್ರೀತಿ prīti, ರಾಗ rāga
- affection in Punjabi
- بھا bhā, ਉਲਫ਼ਤ ulafat
- affection in Gujarati
- નેહડો nehḍo, નેહ neh, વાત્સલ્ય vātsalya, પ્રેમ prem
- affection in Odia
- ପ୍ରଣୟ praṇaya, ପ୍ରେମ prema, ରେଫ repha
- affection in Sanskrit
- रक्ति rakti, वात्सल्य vātsalya, रथ ratha, प्रीति prīti
- affection in Assamese
- নেহা neha
- affection in Malay
- afeksi
- affection in Indonesian
- afeksi
Examples of affection in a sentence
- Bennet missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything else could do.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 61, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George...
- All those years, I didn't know how to show my affection for you, so I wasn't sure if you weren't getting it or you just didn't care.2016 March 8, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain (webcomic), Comic 806 - Terrible Excuse:
- Dated a girl that I hate, for the attention / She only made it two days, what a connection / It's like you'd do anything, for my affection / You're going all about it in the worst ways2021 August 13, Gayle, Sara Davis, David Pittenger, “abcdefu”, in A Study of the Human Experience Volume One, performed by Gayle:
- The desideratum for all neuralgic affections is perpetual summer […]1907, The Medical Brief, volume 35, page 840:
Synonyms of affection
Forms of affection
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | affections |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | affections |
| present participle | affectioning |
| past participle | affectioned |
| past | affectioned |
Origin of affection
From Middle English affection, affeccion, affeccioun, from Old French affection, from Latin affectiōnem, from affectiō; equivalent to affect + -ion.
Words formed from affection
Phrases with affection
Words that rhyme with affection
- section
- connection
- projection
- injection
- selection
- collection
- protection
- inflection
- reflection
- correction
- deflection
- direction
44 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- election
- erection
- complexion
- recollection
- resurrection
- dejection
- dissection
- flexion
- infection
- rejection
- connexion
- convection
- detection
- disconnection
- misdirection
- objection
- perfection
- vection
- advection
- ejection
- imperfection
- inspection
- interjection
- introspection
- lection
- reflexion
- aspection
- callisection
- disinfection
- disruptive selection
- electrotransfection
- indirect election
- insurrection
- police protection
- porrection
- predilection
- retroflexion
- self-infection
- snap election
- ticket inspection
- transfection
- trivection
- type introspection
- vivisection
Questions about affection
- What does affection mean?
- Affection means the act of affecting or acting upon.
- What is affection in Hindi?
- Affection in Hindi is स्नेह (sneh), प्यार (pyār). See Affection meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use affection in a sentence?
- Bennet missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything else could do.
- What part of speech is affection?
- Affection can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce affection?
- Affection is pronounced /əˈfɛk.ʃən/.
- What is the plural of affection?
- The plural of affection is affections.
Words near affection in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: affection (page history and authors); affection (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); आपलेपणा (Marathi) (page history and authors); دیا (Urdu) (page history and authors); আকর্ষণ (Bengali) (page history and authors); അൻപ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಪ್ರೀತಿ (Kannada) (page history and authors); بھا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); નેહ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ପ୍ରଣୟ (Odia) (page history and authors); अनुराग (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); নেহা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-affection.ogg.
Cite this entry: “affection.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/affection. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.