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adj. 1. Generously supplied with money, property, or possessions; prosperous or rich. See Synonyms at rich. 2. Manifesting or requiring wealth: affluent homes; affluent living. 3. Archaic Flowing freely; copious. n. 1. A stream or river that flows into a larger one; a tributary. 2. A person who is well-off financially: "the so-called emerging affluents" (Leslie Tweeton). 3. (used with a pl. verb) Wealthy people considered as a group. Often used with the. [Middle English, abundant, flowing, from Old French, from Latin affluēns, affluent-, present participle of affluere, to abound in : ad-, ad- + fluere, to flow; see bhleu- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] afflu·ent·ly adv. Usage Note: The pronunciation of affluent with stress on the first syllable is the widely accepted pronunciation, and the preferred form of 85 percent of the Usage Panel in our 2015 survey. The pronunciation with stress on the second syllable is acceptable to only a third of the Panel, but it is common enough to be considered a standard variant pronunciation. |
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