elective affinity

Fetched 2026-10-26 (cache).

Datamuse reports no synonyms or antonyms for this word.

Noun

1. {{lb|en|sociology}} A process by which two cultural forms (e.g. religious, intellectual, political or economic) having certain similarities or kinships enter into a relationship of reciprocal attraction and influence, and mutual reinforcement.<ref>M. Löwy, “The concept of elective affinity used by {{w|Max Weber}},” 2004.^{[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297467112_The_concept_of_elective_affinity_used_by_Max_Weber]}</ref>
2. {{lb|en|dated}} The [[feeling]] of being [[attract]]ed to or [[sympathetic]] with someone or something.
3. {{lb|en|chemistry|obsolete}} The [[tendency]] of a [[substance]] to [[combine]] with some [[specific]] substances more readily than others.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wiktionary dump) · cached copy, not a rewrite.