Affectuous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Marked by an intense demonstration of love and feeling towards others
2. Pertaining to a warm emotional connection that conveys care and tenderness in relationships
3. Exhibiting strong feelings of love and warmth toward others

Etymology: "Affectuous" arrived in English from Latin "affectuosus," a word built on "affectus," meaning a disposition or emotional state, which itself comes from "afficere," to act upon or influence someone. So the core idea behind the English word is being moved or affected by feeling, the same root that gives us "affection." Latin "affectuosus" described someone full of such feeling, and English took that sense of warmth and emotional intensity over largely intact. The word has a close relative in music. "Affettuoso," an Italian term meaning "tender" or "with feeling," is a doublet of "affectuous," meaning the two words descend from the same source but reached English through different routes, one through Latin and one through Italian. A composer marking a passage "affettuoso" asks the performer to play with heartfelt expression. Compare the French "affectueux," which carries the same warm meaning and reflects the same Latin ancestor.

Synonyms: affectionate, emotional

Antonyms: indifferent, unemotional