affinity
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English affinite, from Old French affinité. Ostensibly equivalent to affine + -ity.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
affinity (countable and uncountable, plural affinities)
- A natural attraction or feeling of kinship to a person or thing.
- A family relationship through marriage of a relative (e.g. sister-in-law), as opposed to consanguinity (e.g. sister).
- A kinsman or kinswoman of a such relationship; one who is affinal.
- The fact of and manner in which something is related to another.
- 1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 273:
- There are, of course, certain differences of detail; for example, the placing of the safety valves on the boiler barrel behind the dome, which follows the practice in the Riddles 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 locomotives for the Ministry of Supply; but taken all in all, Britannia's boiler has a closer affinity with the Doncaster designs than with any other.
- 1997, Chris Horrocks, “Introducing Foucault”, in The Renaissance Episteme, Totem Books, Icon Books, →ISBN, page 67:
- A “signature” was placed on all things by God to indicate their affinities — but it was hidden, hence the search for arcane knowledge. Knowing was guessing and interpreting, not observing or demonstrating.
- Any romantic relationship.
- A love interest; a paramour.
- 1916 August, The Electrical Experimenter, New York, page 248, column 3:
- "Cut it short, sis, cut it short," he would growl at her if she started to murmur sweet "coo-coos" to her affinity stationed on the other end of the wire.
- Any passionate love for something.
- (taxonomy) Resemblances between biological populations, suggesting that they have a common origin, type or stock.
- (geology) Structural resemblances between minerals; resemblances that suggest that they are of a common origin or type.
- (chemistry) An attractive force between atoms, or groups of atoms, that contributes towards their forming bonds.
- (medicine) The attraction between an antibody and an antigen
- (computing) A tendency to keep a task running on the same processor in a symmetric multiprocessing operating system to reduce the frequency of cache misses.
- (geometry) An automorphism of affine space.
Hyponyms edit
Derived terms edit
Compound words
Expressions
Translations edit
natural attraction or feeling of kinship to a person or thing
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family relationship through marriage of a relative (e.g. sister-in-law), as opposed to consanguinity
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kinsman or kinswoman of such relationship
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romantic relationship
passionate love for something
taxonomy: resemblances between biological populations, suggesting that they have a common origin, type or stock
geology: structural resemblances between minerals; resemblances that suggest that they are of a common origin or type
chemistry: attraction between atoms
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medicine: attraction between an antibody and an antigen
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