affinity

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: af=fin=i=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

affinity, n. [OF. afinité, F. affinité, L. affinites, fr. affinis. See Affined.].

•  Relationship by marriage (as between a husband and his wife's blood relations, or between a wife and her husband's blood relations); -- in contradistinction to consanguinity, or relationship by blood; -- followed by with, to, or between.  [1913 Webster]

  "Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh."  [1913 Webster]
•  Kinship generally; close agreement; relation; conformity; resemblance; connection; as, the affinity of sounds, of colors, or of languages.  [1913 Webster]

  "There is a close affinity between imposture and credulity."  [1913 Webster]

  "About forty years past, I began a happy affinity with William Cranmer."  [1913 Webster]
•  Companionship; acquaintance.  [1913 Webster]
•  That attraction which takes place, at an insensible distance, between the heterogeneous particles of bodies, and unites them to form chemical compounds; chemism; chemical or elective affinity or attraction.  [1913 Webster]
•  A relation between species or higher groups dependent on resemblance in the whole plan of structure, and indicating community of origin.  [1913 Webster]
•  A superior spiritual relationship or attraction held to exist sometimes between persons, esp. persons of the opposite sex; also, the man or woman who exerts such psychical or spiritual attraction.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

affinity, n. (pl. -ies)
1 (often foll. by between, or disp. to, for) a spontaneous or natural liking for or attraction to a person or thing.
2 relationship, esp. by marriage.
3 resemblance in structure between animals, plants, or languages.
4 a similarity of characters suggesting a relationship.
5 Chem. the tendency of certain substances to combine with others.

Etymology

ME f. OF afinit{eacute} f. L affinitas -tatis f. affinis related, lit. bordering on (as AD- + finis border)

THESAURUS

affinity

a thing for, accord, accordance, addition, adduction, adjunct, affairs, affiliation, agape, agreement, alikeness, alliance, allurement, amity, analogy, approximation, aptitude, aptness, assemblage, assent, association, attractance, attraction, attractiveness, attractivity, bag, bent, bias, bond, bonds of harmony, brotherly love, capillarity, capillary attraction, caritas, cast, cement of friendship, centripetal force, charity, chorus, chosen kind, chumminess, closeness, coherence, coincidence, combination, communion, community, community of interests, comparison, compatibility, conatus, concert, concord, concordance, conduciveness, conformance, conformation, conformity, congeneracy, congeniality, congruence, congruency, congruity, connateness, connaturality, connaturalness, connature, connectedness, connection, consistency, consonance, consort, contiguity, contrariety, cooperation, correspondence, cup of tea, dealings, deduction, delight, diathesis, disjunction, disposition, drag, draw, druthers, eagerness, empathy, equivalence, esprit, esprit de corps, familiarity, family connection, family favor, family likeness, fancy, fascination, favor, feeling for, feeling of identity, fellow feeling, fellowship, filiation, fondness, frictionlessness, friendliness, generic resemblance, good vibes, good vibrations, gravitation, gravity, happy family, harmony, homology, identity, inclination, inseparableness, intercourse, intersection, intimacy, intimate acquaintance, junction, kinship, leaning, liability, liaison, like-mindedness, liking, link, linkage, linking, love, magnetism, marital affinity, marriage connection, marriage relationship, mateyness, mutual affinity, mutual attraction, mutuality, nearness, oneness, overlap, palliness, parallelism, partiality, particular choice, peace, penchant, personal choice, predilection, predisposition, preference, prejudice, prepossession, probability, proclivity, proneness, propensity, propinquity, proximity, pull, pulling power, rapport, rapprochement, readiness, reciprocity, relatedness, relation, relations, relationship, resemblance, self-consistency, semblance, sensitivity to, sharing, similarity, simile, similitude, soft spot, solidarity, special affinity, style, susceptibility, symmetry, sympathy, symphony, sync, synchronism, tally, taste, team spirit, tendency, thing, tie, tie-in, timing, traction, tropism, tug, turn, twist, type, understanding, uniformity, union, unison, unisonance, unity, warp, weakness, willingness

ROGET THESAURUS

affinity

Relation

N relation, bearing, reference, connection, concern, cognation, correlation, analogy, similarity, affinity, homology, alliance, homogeneity, association, approximation, filiation, interest, relevancy, dependency, relationship, relative position, comparison, ratio, proportion, link, tie, bond of union, relative, correlative, cognate, relating to, relative to, in relation with, referable or referrible to, belonging to, appurtenant to, in common with, related, connected, implicated, associated, affiliated, allied to, en rapport, in touch with, approximative, approximating, proportional, proportionate, proportionable, allusive, comparable, in the same category, like, relevant, applicable, equiparant, relatively, pertinently, thereof, as to, as for, as respects, as regards, about, concerning, anent, relating to, as relates to, with relation, with reference to, with respect to, with regard to, in respect of, while speaking of, a propos of, in connection with, by the way, by the by, whereas, for as much as, in as much as, in point of, as far as, on the part of, on the score of, quoad hoc, pro re nata, under the head of, of, in the matter of, in re, thereby hangs a tale.

Similarity

N similarity, resemblance, likeness, similitude, semblance, affinity, approximation, parallelism, agreement, analogy, analogicalness, correspondence, homoiousia, parity, connaturalness, connaturality, brotherhood, family likeness, alliteration, rhyme, pun, repetition, sameness, uniformity, isogamy, analogue, the like, match, pendant, fellow companion, pair, mate, twin, double, counterpart, brother, sister, one's second self, alter ego, chip of the old block, par nobile fratrum, Arcades ambo, birds of a feather, et hoc genus omne, gens de meme famille, parallel, simile, type, image, photograph, close resemblance, striking resemblance, speaking resemblance, faithful likeness, faithful resemblance, similar, resembling, like, alike, twin, analogous, analogical, parallel, of a piece, such as, so, homoiousian, connatural, congener, allied to, akin to, approximate, much the same, near, close, something like, sort of, in the ballpark, such like, a show of, mock, pseudo, simulating, representing, exact, lifelike, faithful, true to nature, true to life, the very image, the very picture of, for all the world like, comme deux gouttes d'eau, as like as two peas in a pod, as like as it can stare, instar omnium, cast in the same mold, ridiculously like, as if, so to speak, as it were, as if it were, quasi, just as, veluti in speculum, et sic de similibus, tel maitre tel valet, tel pere tel fils, like master, like servant, like father, like son, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, a chip off the old block.