AFFECTATION Synonyms: 79 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How does the noun 'affectation' contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of affectation are airs , air , mannerism , and pose . While all these words mean "an adopted way of speaking or behaving," affectation applies to a trick of speech or behavior that strikes the observer as insincere. // the posh accent is an affectation

Q: When would 'air' be a good substitute for 'affectation'?

While the synonyms air and affectation are close in meaning, air may suggest natural acquirement through environment or way of life. // a traveler's sophisticated air

Q: When is it sensible to use 'airs' instead of 'affectation'?

The meanings of airs and affectation largely overlap; however, airs always implies artificiality and pretentiousness. // snobbish airs

Q: When can 'mannerism' be used instead of 'affectation'?

Although the words mannerism and affectation have much in common, mannerism applies to an acquired eccentricity that has become a habit. // gesturing with a cigarette was her most noticeable mannerism

Q: When is 'pose' a more appropriate choice than 'affectation'?

The synonyms pose and affectation are sometimes interchangeable, but pose implies an attitude deliberately assumed in order to impress others. // her shyness was just a pose

affectation

noun

ˌa-ˌfek-ˈtā-shən

Definition of affectation next

as in pretension

the quality or state of appearing or trying to appear more important or more valuable than is the case a woman of great affectation at social gatherings

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How does the noun affectation contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of affectation are airs, air, mannerism, and pose. While all these words mean "an adopted way of speaking or behaving," affectation applies to a trick of speech or behavior that strikes the observer as insincere.

the posh accent is an affectation

When would air be a good substitute for affectation?

While the synonyms air and affectation are close in meaning, air may suggest natural acquirement through environment or way of life.

a traveler's sophisticated air

When is it sensible to use airs instead of affectation?

The meanings of airs and affectation largely overlap; however, airs always implies artificiality and pretentiousness.

snobbish airs

When can mannerism be used instead of affectation?

Although the words mannerism and affectation have much in common, mannerism applies to an acquired eccentricity that has become a habit.

gesturing with a cigarette was her most noticeable mannerism

When is pose a more appropriate choice than affectation?

The synonyms pose and affectation are sometimes interchangeable, but pose implies an attitude deliberately assumed in order to impress others.

her shyness was just a pose

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of affectation His eccentricities — once easily dismissed as the affectations of a lonely man — read maniacal. —

Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 25 Oct. 2024 Strangely, the results come off as a directorial affectation, a willful cramping of her style. —

Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2024 There’s no meaningful sense of escalation to the staging, and the performer’s skill and physical sacrifice is often diminished by geysers of digital blood, along with other CGI affectations that distract from the dynamism at hand. —

David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 14 Sep. 2024 Even Truman Capote had some of that affectation in real life, or Tennesse Williams. —

Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 4 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for affectation

Recent Examples of Synonyms for affectation

Noun

To arrive at this integration, however, he must be stripped, like Voss, of his own pretensions and the schisms within his self.

Ben Woollard, JSTOR Daily, 4 Dec. 2024
Know your audience, an excitable kind of reader informs the author of a piece that fails to flatter his pretensions or reinforce her most uncharitable assumptions about her political opponents.

Noah Rothman, National Review, 20 Nov. 2024