əˈfinəd.ē, -ətē, -i also aˈ- noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English affinite, affinitie, from Middle French or Latin; Middle French afinité, from Latin affinitas, from affinis bordering on, related by marriage (from ad- + finis border) + -itas -ity — more at final
1. : relationship by marriage (as between a husband and his wife's blood relatives) — distinguished from consanguinity
his kinsman, by blood, or by affinity — Lev 25:49 (Douay Version)
that grim friendliness which at last arises in all such cases of undesired affinity — Thomas Hardy
broadly : any familial relationship
every creature that bears any affinity to my mother is dear to me — William Cowper
2.
a. : sympathy especially as marked by community of interest : kinship
the strange affinities and hostilities of temperament — A.C.Benson
— often used with with or between
odd affinities she had with people she had never spoken to — Virginia Woolf
her temperamental affinity with the stage — S.L.Gulick
the mysterious affinity between them — Zane Grey
b. : attraction to or liking for
metals without magnetic affinity
the special affinity of a virus for the nervous system
he soon developed an affinity for politics
specifically : the attractive force exerted in different degrees between substances or particles that causes them to enter into and remain in chemical combination — usually used with for
basic dyes have an affinity for wool and silk
hemoglobin has a greater affinity for carbon monoxide than for oxygen
the tungsten surface has high electron affinity — V.K.Zworykin & E.G.Ramberg
c. : a person especially of the opposite sex having a particular attraction for one
she became his affinity
3. obsolete : association , alliance
should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations — Ezra 9:14 (Authorized Version)
4. : causal connection or relationship : resemblance
reveals his Scandinavian affinities — Havelock Ellis
a recognizable stylistic affinity between the extremes — Herbert Read
essays arranged in groups by affinity of topic — H.W.Odum
whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable — Jane Austen
this highly individual work of art bears affinity with diverse sources — Elizabeth Janeway
a.
(1) : possession of common features as a result of descent from the same ancestral language
the affinity of Dutch with English
(2) : possession of common features not resulting from descent from the same ancestral language (as the uvular r which French shares with German but not with the other Romance languages)
b. biology : a relation between species or higher groups dependent on resemblance in the whole plan of structure and indicating community of origin