affection
/əˈfɛkʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
1A gentle feeling of fondness or liking: she felt affection for the wise old lady [count noun]: he won a place in her affections...
- And I think about that so often, because of the universality of people's love and affection for their dads.
- Douglas showed respect and affection for the people he portrayed.
- Such performers have an intimacy with and affection for the people they imitate that a mere jester doesn't.
Synonyms
fondness, love, liking, endearment, feeling, sentiment, tenderness, warmth, warmness, devotion, care;
caring, attentiveness, closeness, attachment, affinity, friendliness, friendship, intimacy, familiarity;
amity, favour, regard, respect, admiration;
warm feelings
2 archaic The action or process of affecting or being affected.
2.1 [count noun] A condition or disease: an affection of the skin...
- Elder flowers are a popular herbal treatment for all bronchial and pulmonary affections.
- The manipulations that are now taught under the name of ‘massage’ are useless for the treatment of local affections.
- Cyanosis with shortness of breath is more frequent in pulmonary than cardiac affections.
2.2 [count noun] A mental state; an emotion.Passions, or affections that include fear, hate, love, hope and so on, are not spiritual but bodily....
- This volume argued that true religion resides in the heart, or the seat of affections, emotions, and inclinations.
- When the minister in Hawthorne's story donned the veil, ‘its gloom… enabled him to sympathise with all dark affections.’
Derivatives
affectional
/ adjective ...- Sexual orientation has many dimensions including erotic and affectional fantasies.
- Future research could include measures of affectional bonding to or romantic desire for males or females.
- Attachment theory emphasizes the propensity for human beings to make and maintain powerful affectional bonds.
Origin
Middle English: via Old French from Latin affectio(n-), from afficere 'to influence' (see affect2).