Synonyms for affair
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Concern — something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public
matter, thing, business, concern, job, undertaking, topic, transaction, subject, hickey, dingus, hootenanny, doodad, doodah UK, widget
2. Dalliance
dalliance, affaire, intimacy, engagement, involvement, liaison, fight, amour, action, brush, rencontre dated UK, rencounter US
3. Incident — any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely
incident, proceeding, occurrence, goings-on, episode, happening, collision, event dated, occasion dated, case dated
4. Function
Other
Definitions
- n. 1
Something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public.
a difficult affair to manage
- n. 2
Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely.
The house was a ramshackle affair.
- n. 3
An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.
- n. 4
A material object (vaguely designated).
This garden is a ramshackle affair.
Related words
- Word family
- affairette
- Phrases
- love affair affair baby affair partner affair of honor affair of honour
Forms
- Plural
- affairs → matters, things, businesses, concerns…
Choose the right word
A transaction is a single action, whether in business, diplomacy, or otherwise; affair has a similar, but lighter meaning; as, this little affair; an important transaction.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- hootenanny They had fun at the hootenanny.
- doodad I can't remember where this little doodad goes.
- incident It was impossible for me not to think of incident.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| affair | rising | |
| dingus | steady | |
| hootenanny | falling | |
| doodad | steady | |
| dalliance | rising | |
| affaire | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- job1
- 4 letters
- case1
- 5 letters
- thing1, fight1, event2, topic2, brush1, amour2
- 6 letters
- matter2, action2, hickey2, widget2, dingus2, doodad2, doodah
- 7 letters
- subject2, episode3, concern2, liaison3, affaire
- 8 letters
- business2, function2, incident3, occasion3, intimacy4
- 9 letters
- happening3, gathering3, collision3, dalliance3, rencontre
- 10 letters
- engagement3, occurrence3, proceeding3, hootenanny, rencounter
- 11 letters
- involvement3, transaction3, undertaking4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (event2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- coucherie
- Deutsch
- Bettgeschichte