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n. 1. a. Something done or experienced; a matter or event: Preparing dessert was a messy affair. b. A matter of personal concern: What I did is my own affair. c. A matter causing public scandal and controversy: the Dreyfus affair. d. A social function: The reception was a posh affair. 2. affairs a. Transactions and other matters of professional or public business: affairs of state. b. Personal business: get one's affairs in order. 3. An object or a contrivance: Their first car was a ramshackle affair. 4. A sexual relationship between two people, especially when at least one of them is married or in another committed romantic relationship. [Middle English affaire, from Old French afaire, from a faire, to do : a, to (from Latin ad; see AD-) + faire, to do (from Latin facere; see dhē- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots).] |
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