affair

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA ^(key): /əˈfɛr/
• (UK) IPA ^(key): /əˈfɛə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: af‧fair

Noun

Singular affair

Plural affairs

1. (countable) Affairs are things that happen or are done, usually that are important enough to be in the news.

   We're thinking less about foreign affairs, and more about what happens here inside the country.

   He now writes a column for the newspaper and hosts a weekly public affairs program.

   The whole affair with Bill Clinton was a terrible mess.

2. (countable) An affair is a romantic or sexual relationship between two people when at least one of them is married to somebody else.

   There were many brief, desperate love affairs between English women and the American soldiers during the war.

   She thinks her mother may be having an affair with a doctor.

   Baseball is a love affair Japan shares with America.

3. (countable) An affair is something that is related to a particular individual or group.

   What I do in my free time is my affair.

   Policing on Indian reservations is the job of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Synonyms

• event
• concern
• activity
• matter