affluent

adjective af·flu·ent \ ˈa-(ˌ)flü-ənt also a-ˈflü- or ə- \

Updated on: 5 Dec 2017

Definition of affluent

1 : having an abundance of goods or riches : wealthy

affluent families

our affluent society

2 : flowing in abundance

affluent streams

affluent creativity

—

affluently

adverb

See affluent defined for English-language learners

See affluent defined for kids

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Examples of affluent in a Sentence

The store catered to a mostly affluent clientele that was relatively price insensitive, so we could afford to pay our suppliers a premium for the very best fish. The shop also developed a significant wholesale business, and soon the great and the good of London gastronomy were flocking to our door. —Frances Percival, Saveur, March 2008
A recent crop of books and articles give voice to this complaint. They happen to be written by journalists who are also well-educated and affluent mothers, but when it comes to parental discontent they are not alone. —Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Commonweal, 16 June 2006
The Bay Area, which encompasses the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, as well as surrounding areas, is one of the nation's most affluent regions: More than 40% of the area's residents have annual household income of at least $75,000, versus only 25% in the country's other top 50 markets, according to Scarborough Research. —Eileen Davis Hudson et al., Editor & Publisher, 1 Oct. 2001
His family was more affluent than most.
he is affluent and can afford to send his children to the best schools

Recent Examples of affluent from the Web

The Frenchman has struggled to establish himself at the affluent Ligue 1 club, particularly after a number of high profile attacking players arrived in the summer.

— SI.com, "New Leicester Boss Claude Puel Refuses to Rule Out Move for PSG Winger Hatem Ben Arfa," 29 Oct. 2017
But in China, where few were exposed opera until the 70’s and 80’s, audiences consists of affluent 35-45 year-olds .

— casey quackenbush, Time, "'My Voice Is Something Special': Soprano He Hui Blazes a Trail for China's Opera Singers," 24 Oct. 2017
However, a parallel system of private and specialized clinics also exists and these clinics attract more affluent consumers, as well as Swiss residents who have purchased supplemental coverage.

— arthur appleton, Fortune, "The Swiss Also Have a Private Health Care System. But Theirs Works.," 26 Sep. 2017
In Indianapolis, Downtown housing prices already have risen to a level that shuts out all but affluent buyers and renters.

— james briggs, Indianapolis Star, "Briggs: Indianapolis neighborhoods aren't ready for Amazon," 15 Sep. 2017
The screen is probably going to make the iPhone X a must-buy for the most dedicated and affluent Apple users.

— samuel axon, Ars Technica, "Hands on with the iPhone X: OLED and HDR outshine the other features," 13 Sep. 2017
Westwood's attractive home prices and proximity to Downtown have drawn more millennials and affluent homebuyers to the neighborhood, Eby said.

— randy tucker, Cincinnati.com, "Proposed drive-through Starbucks would be a first for Westwood and a development prize," 29 Sep. 2017
California has 11 of the 20 most-affluent cities in the nation, while Florida and Ohio each have four cities on the list of the 20 poorest cities, based on an analysis of 2016 median household income.

— julie mack, NOLA.com, "See richest, poorest U.S. cities and counties based on new Census data," 20 Sep. 2017
Much-Needed Boost’ Illinois Service Federal, located in Chicago’s historically black Bronzeville neighborhood, was founded by 13 men in 1934 as a source of financing for the city’s residents in largely segregated and less affluent neighborhoods.

— jordyn holman, Bloomberg.com, "Chicago Puts Millions of Deposits Into Its Last Black-Owned Bank," 18 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'affluent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Are your coffers overflowing? Is your cash flow more than adequate? Are your assets fluid? If so, you can consider yourself affluent. Affluent is all about flow—that is to say, it's based on the Latin word for "flow," which is fluere. (Some other fluere descendants are confluence, fluctuate, fluid, influence, mellifluous, and superfluous.) The older sense of affluent refers, both literally and figuratively, to an abundant flow, as in "an affluent fountain" or "affluent joy." The use of "affluent fortune" for an abundant flow of money is what likely led to the use of affluent as a synonym of wealthy.

Origin and Etymology of affluent

Middle English, "flowing in abundance, copious," borrowed from Latin affluent-, affluens "flowing with, abundant," present participle of affluere "to flow in, come streaming along, be abundantly present," from ad- ad- + fluere "to flow, run" — more at ¹fluid

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

affluent Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of affluent

rich, wealthy, affluent, opulent mean having goods, property, and money in abundance. rich implies having more than enough to gratify normal needs or desires.

- became rich through shrewd investing

wealthy stresses the possession of property and intrinsically valuable things.

- wealthy landowners

affluent suggests prosperity and an increasing wealth.

- an affluent society

opulent suggests lavish expenditure and display of great wealth, more often applying to things than people.

- an opulent mansion

affluent

noun af·flu·ent \ ˈa-(ˌ)flü-ənt also a-ˈflü- or ə- \

Definition of affluent

1 : a tributary stream

… its meandering stream, one of the smaller affluents of the Sacramento.
—John Muir

[derivative of ¹affluent]

: a wealthy or affluent person

The affluents exhibit far less demographic diversity than is exhibited in any of the lower-income segments of the population.
—Pamela N. Danzinger

Examples of affluent in a Sentence

the Nipigon and the St. Louis rivers are affluents of Lake Superior

Recent Examples of affluent from the Web

In an affluent, well-educated and suburban sixth congressional district in Georgia, Ossoff ran on a platform light on policy specifics, and deployed talking points with a distinctly conservative flavor.

— clare foran, The Atlantic, "Why Do Democrats Keep Losing in 2017?," 23 June 2017
On 30 July 2012, sweltering heat in India’s capital city New Delhi led to record power use, as people set electrical pumps to work drawing water from wells and the affluent cranked up their air conditioners.

— Longreads, "We Should Be Talking About the Effect of Climate Change on Cities," 20 Oct. 2017
The affluent who hold financial assets have done very well as stock prices have climbed.

— the editorial board, WSJ, "Trump and the Fed," 3 Oct. 2017
At the time, Moskowitz represented Manhattan’s affluent Upper East Side on New York’s City Council and had, according to the Times profile, emerged as one of the council’s most influential members.

— alia wong, The Atlantic, "The Most Polarizing Education Reformer in New York City," 22 Sep. 2017
The affluent are at the greatest risk of owing more for several reasons.

— laura saunders, WSJ, "Bad News If You Make $150,000 to $300,000: Higher Taxes for Many," 28 July 2017
The poll finds that Americans support cutting taxes for middle- and lower-income Americans by large margins (78-19), and opposes cutting taxes for the affluent by nearly as wide a margin (33-62).

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "The Trump Tax Cuts Are Going to Hurt the Republican Party," 27 Sep. 2017
Over their respective eight years, Bill Clinton and Obama each raised taxes on the affluent and generally increased federal regulation of business (though Obama did so more aggressively than his fellow Democrat).

— ronald brownstein, The Atlantic, "How Much Do Tax Cuts Really Matter?," 21 Sep. 2017
Fed policy has also favored the affluent who have financial assets at the expense of savers and the middle class.

— the editorial board, WSJ, "The Fed’s Long March to Normal," 18 Sep. 2017