af·fair
Pronounced:
/əˈfeɚ/
Function:
nounInflected forms:
plural af·fairsMeaning:
1 affairs [plural] : work or activities done for a purpose : commercial, professional, public, or personal business ▪ The group conducts its affairs [=business] in private. ▪ We were told to arrange/settle our affairs. = We were told to put our affairs in order. ▪ handling/managing someone else's affairs ▪ They seem to be quite pleased with the current/present state of affairs. [=situation] ▪ She's the company's director of public affairs. [=the person who manages a company's relationship with the public] ▪ She's an expert in foreign affairs. [=events and activities that involve foreign countries] ▪ world/international affairs [=events and activities that involve different nations] ▪ 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.
2 [count] : a matter that concerns or involves someone ▪ This has nothing to do with you. It's not your affair. [=business, concern] = It's none of your affair. [=business] ▪ How I choose to live is my affair, not yours.
3 [count] : a secret sexual relationship between two people : love affair ▪ adulterous/extramarital affairs between married men and single women —often used in the phrase have an affair ▪ She divorced her husband after she discovered that he was having an affair. —often + with ▪ She had an affair with a coworker.
4 [count] a : a social event or activity ▪ He wants to make their wedding day an affair to remember. [=a special event] ▪ a simple/elaborate affair ▪ We were invited to a black-tie affair [=a party in which men wear tuxedos and women wear fancy dresses] at the governor's mansion. b : an event or series of events that usually involves well-known people ▪ the famous hostage affair of the late 1970s ▪ The public has shown little interest in the whole affair. —often used with proper names ▪ the Iran-Contra affair [=scandal]
5 [count] informal : something made or produced : an object or thing ▪ The only bridge across the river was a flimsy affair of ropes and rotten wood.
2 [count] : a matter that concerns or involves someone ▪ This has nothing to do with you. It's not your affair. [=business, concern] = It's none of your affair. [=business] ▪ How I choose to live is my affair, not yours.
3 [count] : a secret sexual relationship between two people : love affair ▪ adulterous/extramarital affairs between married men and single women —often used in the phrase have an affair ▪ She divorced her husband after she discovered that he was having an affair. —often + with ▪ She had an affair with a coworker.
4 [count] a : a social event or activity ▪ He wants to make their wedding day an affair to remember. [=a special event] ▪ a simple/elaborate affair ▪ We were invited to a black-tie affair [=a party in which men wear tuxedos and women wear fancy dresses] at the governor's mansion. b : an event or series of events that usually involves well-known people ▪ the famous hostage affair of the late 1970s ▪ The public has shown little interest in the whole affair. —often used with proper names ▪ the Iran-Contra affair [=scandal]
5 [count] informal : something made or produced : an object or thing ▪ The only bridge across the river was a flimsy affair of ropes and rotten wood.