different between affair vs commission

English

Alternative forms

• affaire (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English afere, affere, from Old French afaire, from a- + faire (“to do”), from Latin ad- + facere (“to do”). See fact, and confer ado.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??f??/
• (otherwise) (US) IPA^(key): /??f??(?)/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??f??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Noun

affair (plural affairs)

1. (often in the plural) Something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public.

   Synonyms: matter, concern
2. Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely.
3. (military) An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.
4. A material object (vaguely designated).

   • The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.
5. An adulterous relationship. (from affaire de cœur).
6. A romantic relationship with someone who is not one's regular partner (boyfriend, girlfriend).
7. A person with whom someone has an adulterous relationship.
8. A party or social gathering, especially of a formal nature.
9. (slang, now rare) The (male or female) genitals.
   • 1748, John Cleland, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure:

     [S]he, with the greatest effrontery imaginable, unbuttons his breeches, and removing his shirt, draws out his affair, so shrunk and diminished that I could not but remember the difference, now cresfallen, or just faintly lifting its head.

Translations

See also

• liaison

References

• affair in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• raffia

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English affair, from French affaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?fe?/, [a?fe?]

Noun

affair m (plural affaires)

1. affair (extramarital relationship)

   Synonym: aventura

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French commission, from Latin commissi? (“sending together; commission”), from prefix com- (“with”), + noun of action missi? (“sending”), from perfect passive participle missus (“sent”), from the verb mitt? (“to send”), + noun of action suffix -i?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??m???n/
• Rhymes: -???n

Noun

commission (countable and uncountable, plural commissions)

1. A sending or mission (to do or accomplish something).
2. An official charge or authority to do something, often used of military officers.
3. The thing to be done as agent for another.

4. A body or group of people, officially tasked with carrying out a particular function.
   • 1856-1858, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip II

     A commission was at once appointed to examine into the matter.

   Synonyms: committee, government body

5. A fee charged by an agent or broker for carrying out a transaction.

   Hyponyms: (to a broker) brokerage, (to a shroff) shroffage

6. The act of committing (e.g. a crime).

   • Every commission of sin introduces into the soul a certain degree of hardness.

   Antonym: omission

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

commission (third-person singular simple present commissions, present participle commissioning, simple past and past participle commissioned)

1. (transitive) To send or officially charge someone or some group to do something.
   • 2012, August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal

     Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Afghanistan, is not the first solider to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated.

2. (transitive) To place an order for (often piece of art)

3. (transitive) To put into active service

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin commissio, commissionem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?.mi.sj??/

Noun

commission f (plural commissions)

1. commission (fee charged by an agent or broker for carrying out a transaction)

Derived terms

• Commission européenne

Descendants

• ? Persian: ???????? (komisiyon)
• ? Turkish: komisyon

Further reading

• “commission” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).