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affinity - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'affinity' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Affinity [ n.]
- Relationship by marriage (as between a husband and his wife's blood relations, or between a wife and her husband's blood relations); -- in contradistinction to consanguinity, or relationship by blood; -- followed by with, to, or between.
- Kinship generally; close agreement; relation; conformity; resemblance; connection; as, the affinity of sounds, of colors, or of languages.
- Companionship; acquaintance.
- That attraction which takes place, at an insensible distance, between the heterogeneous particles of bodies, and unites them to form chemical compounds; chemism; chemical or elective affinity or attraction.
- A relation between species or highe/ groups dependent on resemblance in the whole plan of structure, and indicating community of origin.
- A superior spiritual relationship or attraction held to exist sometimes between persons, esp. persons of the opposite sex; also, the man or woman who exerts such psychical or spiritual attraction.

Meaning of 'affinity' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . affinity [ n]
Meaning (1):
- a natural attraction or feeling of kinship
Example in sentence:
  • an affinity for politics;
  • James's affinity with Sam;
  • the mysterious affinity between them
Meaning (2):
- a close connection marked by community of interests or similarity in nature or character
Example in sentence:
  • anthropology's kinship with the humanities;
  • felt a deep kinship with the other students;
  • found a natural affinity with the immigrants
Meaning (3):
- the force attracting atoms to each other and binding them together in a molecule
Example in sentence:
  • basic dyes have an affinity for wool and silk
Meaning (4):
- (biology) state of relationship between organisms or groups of organisms resulting in resemblance in structure or structural parts
Example in sentence:
  • in anatomical structure prehistoric man shows close affinity with modern humans

Nearby Words:

affability affable affableness affably affabrous affair affamish affamishment affatuate affear

See 'affinity' also in:

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Related Definitions

  • Affinity group
    Affinity group means people with a common interest. On the internet, typically a subject oriented mailing list, a newsgroup, or a conference on a web site.
  • Affinity program
    Affinity program is the marketing effort sponsored by an organization that solicits involvement by individuals who share common interests and

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