Affectionate


showing, indicating, or characterized by affection or love; fondly tender:
an affectionate embrace.
having great affection or love; warmly attached; loving:
your affectionate brother.
Obsolete.

strongly disposed or inclined.
passionate; headstrong.
biased; partisan.

Contemporary Examples

While we did not ‘know’ each other in a Biblical sense, it was nevertheless inappropriately romantic and affectionate.
Sex Scandal Rocks the Duggars’ Christian Patriarchy Movement Amanda Marcotte April 15, 2014

Campaign staffers who saw them together, describe a warm, affectionate relationship.
Cate Edwards’ Quiet Courage Delivering Eulogy Shushannah Walshe December 13, 2010

She is a limping old cargo ship, with plenty of rust and an affectionate crew.
My Gaza Flotilla Diary Henning Mankell June 3, 2010

He was a beautiful child, sweet natured, affectionate, with cocoa-colored skin and a thousand-watt smile.
The Cost: What Stop and Frisk Does to a Young Man’s Soul Rilla Askew May 20, 2014

It will be obvious that someone with a close but not affectionate relationship ratted her out.
Should You Ignore Voter Fraud? Justin Green November 1, 2012

Historical Examples

Ah, I recognize our dear Miranda’s affectionate constancy there!
That Unfortunate Marriage, Vol. 3(of 3) Frances Eleanor Trollope

“I say praise for you, ’cause I mind you,” said Rose to me in her affectionate way this morning.
Letters from Port Royal Various

Warm indeed are my remembrances of the dear, good, affectionate old Tinor!
Typee Herman Melville

Mrs. Batholommey, he wishes you to have his miniature—with his affectionate regard.
The Return of Peter Grimm David Belasco

But he was a loyal friend, affectionate to his intimates, gracious in his manners, blameless in all the relations of life.
Studies in Contemporary Biography James Bryce, Viscount Bryce

adjective
having or displaying tender feelings, affection, or warmth: an affectionate mother, an affectionate letter
adj.

1580s, “fond, loving,” from affection + -ate (1). Early, now mostly obsolete, senses included “inclined” (1530s), “prejudiced” (1530s), “passionate” (1540s), “earnest” (c.1600). Other forms also used in the main modern sense of the word included affectious (1580s), affectuous (mid-15c.).

Read Also:

  • Affectionately

    showing, indicating, or characterized by affection or love; fondly tender: an affectionate embrace. having great affection or love; warmly attached; loving: your affectionate brother. Obsolete. strongly disposed or inclined. passionate; headstrong. biased; partisan. Contemporary Examples The Volcano is affectionately known as the “Mercedes Benz” of toking up. How Rich People Smoke Pot Paul Schrodt February […]

  • Affectionless

    fond attachment, devotion, or love: the affection of a parent for an only child. Often, affections. emotion; feeling; sentiment: over and above our reason and affections. the emotional realm of love: a place in his affections. Pathology. a disease, or the condition of being diseased; abnormal state of body or mind: a gouty affection. the […]

  • Affective

    of, caused by, or expressing emotion or feeling; emotional. causing emotion or feeling. Contemporary Examples The repetitive nature of his work is both effective and affective, especially in an exhibition of this scale. Keith Haring’s Public, Political Art at Paris’s Musée D’Art Moderne Alice Cavanagh April 18, 2013 Instead, it turned out to be richly […]

  • Affective disorder

    any mental disorder, as depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or cyclothymia, in which a major disturbance of feelings or emotions is predominant. noun any mental disorder, such as depression or mania, that is characterized by abnormal disturbances of mood affective disorder n. Any of a group of disorders characterized by a prolonged, pervasive disturbance of mood […]

  • Affective fallacy

    a proposition in literary criticism that a poem should be analyzed and described in terms of its own internal structure and not in terms of the emotional response it arouses in the reader. noun in literary criticism, the theory that poetry’s internal structure should be analyzed and described as opposed to its emotional effect on […]


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