Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The quality of being affable; readiness to converse or be addressed; civility in intercourse; ready condescension; benignity.
- noun Synonyms Sociability, approachableness, accessibility, urbanity, complaisance, suavity, comity, amenity, friendliness, openness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The quality of being affable; readiness to converse; courteousness in receiving others and in conversation; complaisant behavior.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
state orquality of beingaffable ,friendly , orapproachable .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a disposition to be friendly and approachable (easy to talk to)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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-- Gothic affability is the mode you think proper to adopt, the condescension of a Baron, not the civility of a liberal man (47).
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But they exude a certain affability on-screen and off.
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The words came as easily from his lips as if his practice in affability had been of the very longest.
The Filigree Ball 1903
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We must now consider the friendliness which is called affability, and the opposite vices which are flattery and quarreling.
Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Aquinas Thomas
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Therefore affability, which is what we mean by friendship, is a special virtue.
Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Aquinas Thomas
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He was a silent, rather sullen man, and you felt that his affability was a duty that he imposed upon himself Christianly; he was by nature reserved and even morose.
The Trembling of a Leaf Little Stories of the South Sea Islands 1919
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Our affability is the armor that protects the inner sensitive personality.
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When afterwards, in the course of our gregarious walk, I found myself for half an hour, not perhaps without another manoeuvre, at the great man's side, the result of his affability was a still livelier desire that he should not remain in ignorance of the peculiar justice I had done him.
Embarrassments Henry James 1879
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When afterwards, in the course of our gregarious walk, I found myself for half an hour, not perhaps without another manoeuvre, at the great man's side, the result of his affability was a still livelier desire that he shouldn't remain in ignorance of the peculiar justice I had done him.
The Figure in the Carpet Henry James 1879
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His affability was a welcome change from the stridency of Eliot Spitzer, yet Paterson quickly proved an unreliable steward.
NY Post: News 2010
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