AFFECTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does affection mean? 

• AFFECTION (noun)
  The noun AFFECTION has 1 sense:

1. a positive feeling of liking

  Familiarity information: AFFECTION used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AFFECTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A positive feeling of liking

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

affection; affectionateness; fondness; heart; philia; tenderness; warmheartedness; warmness

Context example:

the warmness of his welcome made us feel right at home

Hypernyms ("affection" is a kind of...):

feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "affection"):

attachment; fond regard (a feeling of affection for a person or an institution)

protectiveness (a feeling of protective affection)

regard; respect (a feeling of friendship and esteem)

soft spot (a sentimental affection)

 Context examples 

Natural affection only, of all the sentiments, has permanent power over me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

His mother, coming home, growled as she smelt the wolverine's track, and bounded into the cave and licked and nozzled him with undue vehemence of affection.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It's very curious, but the more I try to satisfy myself with all sorts of natural affections, the more I seem to want.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And this address seemed to satisfy all the fondest wishes of the mother's heart, for she received him with the most delighted and exulting affection.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She would not, could not believe, that Mr. Crawford's affection for her could distress him long; his mind was not of that sort.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Sir Walter, indeed, though he had no affection for Anne, and no vanity flattered, to make him really happy on the occasion, was very far from thinking it a bad match for her.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

My affection for my guest increases every day.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A strong positive emotion of affection and attraction.

(Love, NCI Thesaurus)

The team analyzed whether mothers responded to their baby’s cries by showing affection, distracting, nurturing (like feeding or diapering), picking up and holding, or talking.

(Study identifies brain patterns underlying mothers’ responses to infant cries, National Institutes of Health)

Her idea of love was more that of placid affection, serving the loved one softly in an atmosphere, flower-scented and dim-lighted, of ethereal calm.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)