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
Related Words
See rich.
Other Word Forms
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.
The Carrefour supermarkets dotted through Nairobi's more affluent neighbourhoods are where people can experience France's influence.
From BBC • May 12, 2026
Citi is a top player in six affluent U.S. city banking markets, such as New York, San Francisco and Miami.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
Guillermo Ramos remembers seeing few elected leaders who looked like him while he was growing up in the 1980s in Farmers Branch, a fast-growing affluent suburb northwest of Dallas.
From Salon • May 7, 2026
Raman, who represents an affluent Hollywood Hills district, led the effort to reduce evictions, capping rent increases at 4% for apartments built before October 1978.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
Over the course of his or her life, a typical member of a modern affluent society will own several million artefacts—from cars and houses to disposable nappies and milk cartons.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
