plural affordances
: the quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used
We sit or stand on a chair because those affordances are fairly obvious. Scott Lafee
An affordance is a resource or support that the environment offers an animal; the animal in turn must possess the capabilities to perceive it and to use it. Eleanor J. Gibson et al.

Examples of affordance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Activity trackers, prior motivation, and perceived informational and motivational affordances National Library of Medicine. Gabe Allen, Discover Magazine, 10 Feb. 2025 Lines have several interesting characteristics from the perspective of interaction design: abstractness of data representation; a variety of inherent interactions / affordances; and constraints as boundaries or borderlines. Evan Ackerman, IEEE Spectrum, 13 Nov. 2015

Word History

Etymology

afford + -ance

Note: As a term in the study of cognition introduced by the American psychologist James J. Gibson (1904-79) in The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems (Boston, 1966) and later essays.

First Known Use

1966, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of affordance was in 1966

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Cite this Entry

“Affordance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affordance. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.

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