affairette

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English

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Etymology

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From affair +‎ -ette.

Noun

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affairette (plural affairettes)

  1. A brief romantic relationship, especially with someone who is in a relationship with another person, or not one's regular partner.
    Synonyms: dalliance, fling, liaison
    • 1976, David Edgar, Saigon Rose, Act II, Scene 4, in Plays: One, London: Methuen Drama, 1987, p. 215,[1]
      It’s a poem, students learn, about the symptoms of syphilis. I once had an affairette with a final year medic from Inverness who used to mumble it all the time, often at the most inopportune moments.
    • 1978, Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City[2], New York: Ballantine Books, published 1979, page 93:
      [] I thought I’d be snapped up in six months. At the very most!” []
      “What about Robert?”
      Affairettes don’t count.”
    • 1980 August 9, John D'Emilio, “There's No Place Like Home”, in Gay Community News, page 9:
      Occasionally I got out afterward to cruise. Occasionally someone does spend the night with me. Twice, I've even had very sweet "affairettes" with men who made their way to my home.
    • 2004, Erika Ritter, The Great Big Book of Guys,[3], Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, page 5:
      Suddenly single at thirty, I floundered through those awful encounters, affairettes, and all-out affairs I’d tried to spare myself by marrying early and supposedly for good.