affluent
English
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Middle French affluent, borrowed in turn from Latin affluentem, accusative singular of affluēns, present active participle of affluō (“flow to or towards; overflow with”), from ad (“to, towards”) + fluō (“flow”) (cognate via latter to fluid, flow). Sense of “wealthy” (plentiful flow of goods) c. 1600, which also led to nominalization affluence.[1]
Pronunciation
edit- (US)
- enPR: ăf'lo͞o-ənt, IPA(key): /ˈæfluːənt/
Audio (US): (file) - enPR: ă-flo͞o'ənt, ə-flo͞o'ənt, IPA(key): /æˈfluːənt/, /əˈfluːənt/
- Although the pronunciation with second-syllable stress does occur in educated U.S. usage, it is appreciably less common than the pronunciation with first-syllable stress[2][3] and is regarded as unacceptable by many American speakers.[3]
Noun
editaffluent (plural affluents)
- Somebody who is wealthy.
- 1994, Philip D. Cooper, Health care marketing: a foundation for managed quality, page 183:
- The affluents are most similar to the professional want-it-alls in their reasons for preferring specific hospitals and in their demographic characteristics.
- A stream or river flowing into a larger river or into a lake; a tributary stream; a tributary.
- 1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 20:
- Its sources are everywhere in pine-clad mountains and plateaus, but all of the affluents quickly descend into the desert valley below, through which the Gila winds its way westward to the Colorado.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- The affluents of the Amazon are, half of them, of this nature, while the other half are whitish and opaque, the difference depending upon the class of country through which they have flowed.
Synonyms
edit- See also Thesaurus:moneybags
Translations
editsomeone wealthy
|
tributary — see tributary
Adjective
editaffluent (comparative more affluent, superlative most affluent)
- Abundant; copious; plenteous.
- 1860, Mary Howitt, transl., Life in the Old World:
- The shores are affluent in beauty, and incomparably lovely is the drive to the heights of Castel-a-Mare.
- (by extension) Abounding in goods or riches; having a moderate level of material wealth.
- They were affluent, but aspired to true wealth.
- 2013 September-October, Michael Sivak, “Will AC Put a Chill on the Global Energy Supply?”, in American Scientist:
- Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent, with the consequences of climate change potentially accelerating the demand.
- The Upper East Side is an affluent neighborhood in New York City.
- (dated) Tributary.
- (obsolete) Flowing to; flowing abundantly.
- 1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions:
- affluent blood
Synonyms
edit- See also Thesaurus:wealthy
Antonyms
editDerived terms
editTranslations
editabundant
|
abounding in goods or riches; materially wealthy
|
tributary
References
edit- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “affluent”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ affluent in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 affluent in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.
French
editEtymology 1
editPronunciation
editAdjective
editaffluent (feminine affluente, masculine plural affluents, feminine plural affluentes)
Noun
editaffluent m (plural affluents)
Related terms
editEtymology 2
editPronunciation
editVerb
editaffluent
Further reading
edit- “affluent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
editVerb
editaffluent
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Middle French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English adjectives
- English dated terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Wealth
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French 2-syllable words
- French non-lemma forms
- French verb forms
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin verb forms