Library / English Dictionary

AFFABILITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A disposition to be friendly and approachable (easy to talk to)

Synonyms:

affability; affableness; amiability; amiableness; bonhomie; geniality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("affability" is a kind of...):

friendliness (a friendly disposition)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "affability"):

condescendingness; condescension (affability to your inferiors and temporary disregard for differences of position or rank)

mellowness (geniality, as through the effects of alcohol or marijuana)

sweetness and light (a mild reasonableness)

Derivation:

affable (diffusing warmth and friendliness)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Lady Catherine was reckoned proud by many people he knew, but he had never seen anything but affability in her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The subject elevated him to more than usual solemnity of manner, and with a most important aspect he protested that he had never in his life witnessed such behaviour in a person of rank—such affability and condescension, as he had himself experienced from Lady Catherine.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)