affair
/əˈfɛɹ/
noun
Common
1.n.a vaguely specified concern
“several matters to attend to”
2.n.a usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship
3.n.a vaguely specified social event
“the party was quite an affair”
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affair and matter share a recorded sense, so the question is not what they mean but which one fits. affair means “a vaguely specified concern”. matter means “a vaguely specified concern”. matter is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/əˈfɛɹ/
1.n.a vaguely specified concern
“several matters to attend to”
2.n.a usually secretive or illicit sexual relationship
3.n.a vaguely specified social event
“the party was quite an affair”
/ˈmætɚ/
1.n.a vaguely specified concern
“several matters to attend to”
2.n.some situation or event that is thought about
“he kept drifting off the topic”
3.n.that which has mass and occupies space
“physicists study both the nature of matter and the forces which govern it”
| affair | matter | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /əˈfɛɹ/ | /ˈmætɚ/ |
| Said | uh-FER | MAT-ur |
| Syllables | 2 | 2 |
| Letters | 6 | 6 |
| Parts of speech | noun | noun, verb |
| Senses | 3 | 7 |
| How common | Common | Core |
| Synonyms | matter, thing | affair, thing |
Full entry for affair · Full entry for matter · More comparisons