Adjacent Words

Affinity definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AFFIN'ITY, n. [L. affinitas, from affinis, adjacent, related by marriage; ad and finis, end.]
1. The relation contracted by marriage, between a husband and his wife's kindred, and between a wife and her husband's kindred; in contradistinction from consanguinity or relation by blood.
Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh. 1 Kings 3.
2. Agreement; relation; conformity; resemblance; connection; as, the affinity of sounds, of colors, or of languages.
3. In chimistry, attraction; elective attraction, or that tendency which different species of matter have to unite, and combine with certain other bodies, and the power that disposes them to continue in combination There are two kinds of affinity.
1. Affinity of aggregation, which is the power that causes two homogeneous bodies to tend towards each other, unite and cohere, as two drops of water, which unite in one.
2. Affinity of composition, which is the tendency of bodies of different kinds to unite and form new combinations of bodies with different properties. Such is the affinity which unites acids and alkalies, the results of which combination are neutral salts.
The operations of this principle are various. When heterogeneous bodies have mutually an equal attraction, it is called compound affinity. When one substance decomposes a combination of others, unites with one of them and precipitates the other, the power is called the affinity of decomposition. When bodies will not unite, but by means of a third, which enables them to combine, this is affinity by means of a medium.
Double affinity is when by means of four bodies, two decompositions and two new combinations are effected.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (immunology) the attraction between an antigen and an antibody
2: (anthropology) kinship by marriage or adoption; not a blood relationship [ant: blood kinship, cognation, consanguinity]
3: (biology) state of relationship between organisms or groups of organisms resulting in resemblance in structure or structural parts; "in anatomical structure prehistoric man shows close affinity with modern humans" [syn: affinity, phylogenetic relation]
4: a close connection marked by community of interests or similarity in nature or character; "found a natural affinity with the immigrants"; "felt a deep kinship with the other students"; "anthropology's kinship with the humanities" [syn: affinity, kinship]
5: the force attracting atoms to each other and binding them together in a molecule; "basic dyes have an affinity for wool and silk" [syn: affinity, chemical attraction]
6: inherent resemblance between persons or things
7: a natural attraction or feeling of kinship; "an affinity for politics"; "the mysterious affinity between them"; "James's affinity with Sam"

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Etymology: 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 Date: 14th century 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 Synonyms: see attraction

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 (often foll. by between, or disp. to, for) a spontaneous or natural liking for or attraction to a person or thing. 2 relationship, esp. by marriage. 3 resemblance in structure between animals, plants, or languages. 4 a similarity of characters suggesting a relationship. 5 Chem. the tendency of certain substances to combine with others. Etymology: ME f. OF afinité f. L affinitas -tatis f. affinis related, lit. bordering on (as AD- + finis border)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Affinity Af*fin"i*ty, n.; pl. Affinities. [OF. afinit['e], F. affinit['e], L. affinites, fr. affinis. See Affined.] 1. 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. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh. --1 Kings iii. 1. 2. Kinship generally; close agreement; relation; conformity; resemblance; connection; as, the affinity of sounds, of colors, or of languages. There is a close affinity between imposture and credulity. --Sir G. C. Lewis. 2. Companionship; acquaintance. [Obs.] About forty years past, I began a happy affinity with William Cranmer. --Burton. 4. (Chem.) 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. 5. (Nat. Hist.) A relation between species or highe? groups dependent on resemblance in the whole plan of structure, and indicating community of origin. 6. (Spiritualism) 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Attraction At*trac"tion, n. [L. attractio: cf. F. attraction.] 1. (Physics) An invisible power in a body by which it draws anything to itself; the power in nature acting mutually between bodies or ultimate particles, tending to draw them together, or to produce their cohesion or combination, and conversely resisting separation. Note: Attraction is exerted at both sensible and insensible distances, and is variously denominated according to its qualities or phenomena. Under attraction at sensible distances, there are, -- (1.) Attraction of gravitation, which acts at all distances throughout the universe, with a force proportional directly to the product of the masses of the bodies and inversely to the square of their distances apart. (2.) Magnetic, diamagnetic, and electrical attraction, each of which is limited in its sensible range and is polar in its action, a property dependent on the quality or condition of matter, and not on its quantity. Under attraction at insensible distances, there are, -- (1.) Adhesive attraction, attraction between surfaces of sensible extent, or by the medium of an intervening substance. (2.) Cohesive attraction, attraction between ultimate particles, whether like or unlike, and causing simply an aggregation or a union of those particles, as in the absorption of gases by charcoal, or of oxygen by spongy platinum, or the process of solidification or crystallization. The power in adhesive attraction is strictly the same as that of cohesion. (3.) Capillary attraction, attraction causing a liquid to rise, in capillary tubes or interstices, above its level outside, as in very small glass tubes, or a sponge, or any porous substance, when one end is inserted in the liquid. It is a special case of cohesive attraction. (4.) Chemical attraction, or affinity, that peculiar force which causes elementary atoms, or groups of atoms, to unite to form molecules. 2. The act or property of attracting; the effect of the power or operation of attraction. --Newton. 3. The power or act of alluring, drawing to, inviting, or engaging; an attractive quality; as, the attraction of beauty or eloquence. 4. That which attracts; an attractive object or feature. Syn: Allurement; enticement; charm.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(affinities) If you have an affinity with someone or something, you feel that you are similar to them or that you know and understand them very well. He has a close affinity with the landscape he knew when he was growing up... N-SING: also no det, with supp

Easton's Bible Dictionary

relationship by alliance (2 Chr. 18:1) or by marriage (1 Kings 3:1). Marriages are prohibited within certain degrees of affinity, enumerated Lev. 18:6-17. Consanguinity is relationship by blood.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a-fin'-i-ti (chathan "to join one-self"): This term is used three times in the Old Testament:

(1) in 1Ki 3:1, where we read that "Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh King of Egypt",

(2) in 2Ch 18:1, where it is stated that Jehoshaphat "joined affinity with Ahab," and

(3) in Ezr 9:14, where it is asked "Shall we .... join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations?" The Hebrew word thus rendered in the above three passages refers in each case to marriage alliances rather than to family or political relationships.

See MARRIAGE; FAMILY.

W. W. Davies

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Relationship (by marriage), propinquity, connection. See kin, consanguinity. 2. Resemblance, likeness, relation, correlation, analogy, connection, similarity, similitude, parallelism, correspondence, parity, sympathy, attraction. 3. (Chem.) Attraction.

Foolish Dictionary

Complimentary term for your husband or your wife. Sometimes a synonym for "Your finish."

Moby Thesaurus

a thing for, accord, accordance, addition, adduction, adjunct, affairs, affiliation, agape, agreement, alikeness, alliance, allurement, amity, analogy, approximation, aptitude, aptness, assemblage, assent, association, attractance, attraction, attractiveness, attractivity, bag, bent, bias, bond, bonds of harmony, brotherly love, capillarity, capillary attraction, caritas, cast, cement of friendship, centripetal force, charity, chorus, chosen kind, chumminess, closeness, coherence, coincidence, combination, communion, community, community of interests, comparison, compatibility, conatus, concert, concord, concordance, conduciveness, conformance, conformation, conformity, congeneracy, congeniality, congruence, congruency, congruity, connateness, connaturality, connaturalness, connature, connectedness, connection, consistency, consonance, consort, contiguity, contrariety, cooperation, correspondence, cup of tea, dealings, deduction, delight, diathesis, disjunction, disposition, drag, draw, druthers, eagerness, empathy, equivalence, esprit, esprit de corps, familiarity, family connection, family favor, family likeness, fancy, fascination, favor, feeling for, feeling of identity, fellow feeling, fellowship, filiation, fondness, frictionlessness, friendliness, generic resemblance, good vibes, good vibrations, gravitation, gravity, happy family, harmony, homology, identity, inclination, inseparableness, intercourse, intersection, intimacy, intimate acquaintance, junction, kinship, leaning, liability, liaison, like-mindedness, liking, link, linkage, linking, love, magnetism, marital affinity, marriage connection, marriage relationship, mateyness, mutual affinity, mutual attraction, mutuality, nearness, oneness, overlap, palliness, parallelism, partiality, particular choice, peace, penchant, personal choice, predilection, predisposition, preference, prejudice, prepossession, probability, proclivity, proneness, propensity, propinquity, proximity, pull, pulling power, rapport, rapprochement, readiness, reciprocity, relatedness, relation, relations, relationship, resemblance, self-consistency, semblance, sensitivity to, sharing, similarity, simile, similitude, soft spot, solidarity, special affinity, style, susceptibility, symmetry, sympathy, symphony, sync, synchronism, tally, taste, team spirit, tendency, thing, tie, tie-in, timing, traction, tropism, tug, turn, twist, type, understanding, uniformity, union, unison, unisonance, unity, warp, weakness, willingness