STATE OF AFFAIRS

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Meaning:

The general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time

Example:

eternal truths will be neither true nor eternal unless they have fresh meaning for every new social situation

Synonyms:

situation; state of affairs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("state of affairs" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "state of affairs"):

thing (a special situation)

status quo (the existing state of affairs)

square one (the situation in which you begin an endeavor and to which you return if your efforts fail)

size; size of it (the actual state of affairs)

rejection (the state of being rejected)

prison; prison house (a prisonlike situation; a place of seeming confinement)

picture; scene (a situation treated as an observable object)

intestacy (the situation of being or dying without a legally valid will)

inclusion (the state of being included)

hotbed (a situation that is ideal for rapid development (especially of something bad))

fish bowl; fishbowl; goldfish bowl (a state of affairs in which you have no privacy)

exclusion (the state of being excluded)

equilibrium (a stable situation in which forces cancel one another)

environment (the totality of surrounding conditions)

element (the situation in which you are happiest and most effective)

disequilibrium (loss of equilibrium attributable to an unstable situation in which some forces outweigh others)

crowding (a situation in which people or things are crowded together)

complication (a situation or condition that is complex or confused)

childlessness (the condition of being without offspring)

challenge (a demanding or stimulating situation)

ballgame; new ballgame (a particular situation that is radically different from the preceding situation)

acceptance (the state of being acceptable and accepted)

absurd; the absurd (a situation in which life seems irrational and meaningless)