affluent
Americanadjective
-
having an abundance of wealth, property, or other material goods; prosperous; rich.
an affluent person.
-
abounding in anything; abundant.
- Synonyms:
- teeming
-
flowing freely.
an affluent fountain.
noun
-
a tributary stream.
-
an affluent person.
a luxurious resort appealing to young affluents.
adjective
-
rich; wealthy
-
abundant; copious
-
flowing freely
noun
Synonym Usage
See rich.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonaffluentadjective
-
subaffluentadjective
-
superaffluentadjective
-
unaffluentadjective
-
affluentlyadverb
-
subaffluentlyadverb
-
superaffluentlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of affluent
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin affluent- (stem of affluēns “rich”; originally present participle of affluere ), equivalent to af- af- + flu- “flow” + -ent -ent
Explanation
You know you're driving through an affluent neighborhood when you see large houses, perfect landscaping, and expensive cars. Use affluent to describe wealthy people or areas. In Middle English, affluent meant "abundant, flowing," from Old French, from Latin affluēns, from affluere "to abound in," from the prefix ad- "to, at" plus fluere "to flow." The meaning of "abundant, flowing" is still seen in phrases such as "affluent prose." But mostly, when you use the word affluent, the thing understood to be flowing is cash.
Vocabulary lists containing affluent
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Politics has been described as “the study of the affluent and the influential.”
From Salon • Jun. 20, 2026
“The affluent traveler can afford to travel to the E.U., but larger groups and families are gravitating domestically to manage expenses,” Entwistle told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 11, 2026
Those businesses are lower-growth, harder to scale, and targeted at affluent consumers.
From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026
Last year, the foundation facilitated the donation of dozens of Flock cameras, most of which ended up in affluent neighborhoods on the city’s Westside and in the San Fernando Valley.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
She liked, most of all, that in this place of affluent ease, she could pretend to be someone else, someone specially admitted into a hallowed American club, someone adorned with certainty.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
