Affair

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: af=fair

CIDE DICTIONARY

Affair, n. [OE. afere, affere, OF. afaire, F. affaire, fr. a faire to do; L.. ad + facere to do. See Fact, and cf. Ado.].

•  That which is done or is to be done; matter; concern; as, a difficult affair to manage; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public; -- often in the plural. “At the head of affairs.” Junius.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely; as, an affair of honor, i. e., a duel; an affair of love, i. e., an intrigue.  [1913 Webster]
•  An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.  [1913 Webster]
•  Action; endeavor.  [1913 Webster]

  "And with his best affair
  Obeyed the pleasure of the Sun."  [1913 Webster]
•  A material object (vaguely designated).  [1913 Webster]

  "A certain affair of fine red cloth much worn and faded."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Affair, n.
1 a concern; a business; a matter to be attended to (that is my affair).
2 a a celebrated or notorious happening or sequence of events. b colloq. a noteworthy thing or event (was a puzzling affair).
3 = love affair.
4 (in pl.) a ordinary pursuits of life. b business dealings. c public matters (current affairs).

Etymology

ME f. AF afere f. OF afaire f. {agrave} faire to do: cf. ADO

THESAURUS

Affair

activities, activity, adulterous affair, adultery, affairs, amor, amour, article, artifact, at home, attempt, bag, beeswax, business, care, commerce, commitment, concern, concernment, contract, cuckoldry, cup of tea, deal, dingus, dofunny, dohickey, doing, dojigger, dojiggy, domajig, domajigger, doodad, dowhacky, effort, employ, employment, engagement, entanglement, enterprise, eppes, eternal triangle, etwas, event, fling, flirtation, flumadiddle, forbidden love, function, gadget, gathering, get-together, gigamaree, gimmick, gizmo, hanky-panky, happening, hickey, hootenanny, hootmalalie, illicit love, incident, infidelity, interest, intrigue, issue, jigger, job, labor, levee, liaison, lookout, love, love affair, material thing, matinee, matter, object, obligation, occasions, occupation, occurrence, operation, palaver, pie, plan, proceeding, program, project, proposition, quelque chose, reception, relationship, responsibility, reunion, romance, romantic tie, salon, service, sociable, social, social affair, social gathering, soiree, something, task, thing, thingum, thingumabob, thingumadad, thingumadoodle, thingumajig, thingumajigger, thingumaree, thingummy, topic, transaction, triangle, undertaking, unfaithfulness, venture, wake, whatchy, widget, work

ROGET THESAURUS

Affair

Business

N business, occupation, employment, pursuit, what one is doing, what one is about, affair, concern, matter, case, matter in hand, irons in the fire, thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore, errand, commission, mission, charge, care, duty, part, role, cue, province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line, walk, walk of life, beat, round, routine, race, career, office, place, post, chargeship, incumbency, living, situation, berth, employ, service, engagement, undertaking, vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty, industry, art, industrial arts, craft, mystery, handicraft, trade, exercise, work, avocation, press of business, businesslike, workaday, professional, official, functional, busy, on hand, in hand, in one's hands, afoot, on foot, on the anvil, going on, acting, in the course of business, all in one's day's work, professionally Adj, a business with an income at its heels, amoto quaeramus seria ludo, par negotiis neque supra.

Contention

N contention, strife, contest, contestation, struggle, belligerency, opposition, controversy, polemics, debate, war of words, logomachy, litigation, paper war, high words, sparring, competition, rivalry, corrivalry, corrivalship, agonism, concours, match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap, regatta, field day, sham fight, Derby day, turf, sporting, bullfight, tauromachy, gymkhana, boat race, torpids, wrestling, greco-roman wrestling, pugilism, boxing, fisticuffs, the manly art of self-defense, spar, mill, set-to, round, bout, event, prize fighting, quarterstaff, single stick, gladiatorship, gymnastics, jiujitsu, jujutsu, kooshti, sumo, athletics, athletic sports, games of skill, shindy, fracas, clash of arms, tussle, scuffle, broil, fray, affray, affrayment, velitation, colluctation, luctation, brabble, brigue, scramble, melee, scrimmage, stramash, bushfighting, free fight, stand up fight, hand to hand, running fight, conflict, skirmish, rencounter, encounter, rencontre, collision, affair, brush, fight, battle, battle royal, combat, action, engagement, joust, tournament, tilt, tilting, tournay, list, pitched battle, death struggle, struggle for life or death, life or death struggle, Armageddon, hard knocks, sharp contest, tug of war, naval engagement, naumachia, sea fight, duel, duello, single combat, monomachy, satisfaction, passage d'armes, passage of arms, affair of honor, triangular duel, hostile meeting, digladiation, deeds of arms, feats of arms, appeal to arms, pugnacity, combativeness, bone of contention, contending, together by the ears, at loggerheads, at war, at issue, competitive, rival, belligerent, contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful, warlike, quarrelsome, pugnacious, pugilistic, gladiatorial, palestric, palestrical, a verbis ad verbera, a word and a blow, a very pretty quarrel as it stands, commune periculum concordiam parit, lis litem generat.

Eventuality

N eventuality, event, occurrence, incident, affair, matter, thing, episode, happening, proceeding, contingency, juncture, experience, fact, matter of fact, naked fact, bare facts, just the facts, phenomenon, advent, business, concern, transaction, dealing, proceeding, circumstance, particular, casualty, accident, adventure, passage, crisis, pass, emergency, contingency, consequence, opportunity (occasion), the world, life, things, doings, affairs in general, things in general, affairs in general, the times, state of affairs, order of the day, course of things, tide of things, stream of things, current of things, run of things, march of things, course of events, ups and downs of life, vicissitudes of life, chapter of accidents, situation, happening, going on, doing, current, in the wind, in the air, afloat, on foot, afoot, on the tapis, at issue, in question, incidental, eventful, stirring, bustling, full of incident, memorable, momentous, signal, eventually, in the event of, in case, just in case, in the course of things, as things, times go, as the world goes, wags, as the tree falls, cat jumps, as it may turn out, happen, that's the way the ball bounces, that's the way the cookie crumbles, you never know what may turn up, you never know what the future will bring, the plot thickens, breasts the blows of circumstance, so runs round of life from hour to hour, sprinkled along the waste of years.

Topic

N topic, subject of thought, material for thought, food for the mind, mental pabulum, subject, subject matter, matter, theme, noemata, topic, what it is about, thesis, text, business, affair, matter in hand, argument, motion, resolution, head, chapter, case, point, proposition, theorem, field of inquiry, moot point, problem, thought of, uppermost in the mind, in petto, under consideration, in question, in the mind, on foot, on the carpet, on the docket, on the tapis, relative to.