anything done or to be done; anything requiring action or effort; business; concern: an affair of great importance.
2.
affairs, matters of commercial or public interest or concern; the transactions of public or private business or finance: affairs of state; Before taking such a long trip you should put all your affairs in order.
3.
an event or a performance; a particular action, operation, or proceeding: When did this affair happen?
4.
thing; matter (applied to anything made or existing, usually with a descriptive or qualifying term): Our new computer is an amazing affair.
5.
a private or personal concern; a special function, business, or duty: That's none of your affair.
6.
an intense amorous relationship, usually of short duration.
7.
an event or happening that occasions or arouses notoriety, dispute, and often public scandal; incident: the Congressional bribery affair.
8.
a party, social gathering, or other organized festive occasion: The awards ceremony is the biggest affair on the school calendar.
[Origin: 1250–1300; earlier affaire < F, OF afaire for a faire to do, equiv. to a (< L ad to) + faire ≪ L facere; r. ME afere < OF]
affairs Transactions and other matters of professional or public business: affairs of state.
An occurrence, event, or matter: The senator's death was a tragic affair.
A social function.
An object or a contrivance: Their first car was a ramshackle affair.
A matter of personal concern.
affairs Personal business: get one's affairs in order.
A matter causing public scandal and controversy: the Dreyfus affair.
A romantic and sexual relationship, sometimes one of brief duration, between two people who are not married to each other.
[Middle English affaire, from Old French afaire, from a faire, to do : a, to (from Latin ad; see ad-) + faire, to do (from facere; see dhē- in Indo-European roots).]
Synonyms: These nouns denote something that involves one personally: I won't comment on that; it's not my affair. That's none of your business. Mind your own concerns. It's your lookout to file your application on time.
c.1300, "what one has to do," from Anglo-Norm. afere, from O.Fr. afaire, from the infinitive phrase à faire "to do" (from L. ad "to" + facere "to do, make"). A Northern word originally, brought into general use and given a Fr. spelling by Caxton (15c.). General sense of "vague proceedings" (in romance, war, etc.) first attested 1702. Affairs "ordinary business" first attested 1484.
a vaguely specified concern; "several matters to attend to"; "it is none of your affair"; "things are going well" [syn: matter]
2.
a usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship
3.
a vaguely specified social event; "the party was quite an affair"; "an occasion arranged to honor the president"; "a seemingly endless round of social functions"
A*do"\ ([.a]*d[=oo]"), (1) v. inf., (2) n. [OE. at do, northern form for to do. Cf. Affair.]1. To do; in doing; as, there is nothing ado. "What is here ado?" --J. Newton. 2. Doing; trouble; difficulty; troublesome business; fuss; bustle; as, to make a great ado about trifles. With much ado, he partly kept awake. --Dryden. Let's follow to see the end of this ado. --Shak.
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