a natural attraction or feeling of kinship; "an affinity for politics"; "the mysterious affinity between them"; "James's affinity with Sam"
inherent resemblance between persons or things
the force attracting atoms to each other and binding them together in a molecule; "basic dyes have an affinity for wool and silk"
(immunology) the attraction between an antigen and an antibody
a close connection marked by community of interests or similarity in nature or character; "found a natural affinity with the immigrants"; "felt a deep kinship with the other students"; "anthropology's kinship with the humanities"
(biology) state of relationship between organisms or groups of organisms resulting in resemblance in structure or structural parts; "in anatomical structure prehistoric man shows close affinity with modern humans"
(anthropology) kinship by marriage or adoption; not a blood relationship
a belief that can guide behavior; "the architect has a theory that more is less"; "they killed him on the theory that dead men tell no tales"
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"
an establishment consisting of a building or complex of buildings where an organization for the promotion of some cause is situated
a custom that for a long time has been an important feature of some group or society; "the institution of marriage"; "the institution of slavery"; "he had become an institution in the theater"
an organization founded and united for a specific purpose
the act of imitating the behavior of some situation or some process by means of something suitably analogous (especially for the purpose of study or personnel training)
(computer science) the technique of representing the real world by a computer program; "a simulation should imitate the internal processes and not merely the results of the thing being simulated"