affectedness
Deliberate false manner
Affectedness is the quality of being affected—artificial, pretentious, or contrived in manner or speech.
Where someone might note a politician's affectedness when speaking to rural voters, they're pointing to behavior that feels performed rather than genuine.
The word carries implicit criticism: affectedness suggests the person is trying too hard to project an image.
Insincere behavior for effect
- façadeFalse outward appearance
- airsPretentious behavioral displays
- poseurPerson feigning refined tastes
- shamFraudulent imitation
phoniness · pomposity · pretense · showiness · ostentation · grandstanding · self-importance · snobbishness
Artificially formal in style
- contrivedDeliberately manufactured, unnatural
- stiltedUnnaturally formal in expression
- unnaturalContrary to normal order
- forcedMade to occur unwillingly
feigned · insincere · pretentious · put-on · studied · stiff · labored · overwrought
Excessively theatrical in style
- overactingExcessive theatrical performance
- melodramaticExaggeratedly emotional in expression
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
- histrionicExaggeratedly emotional in behavior
dramatic · campy · exaggerated · over-the-top · mugging · scenery-chewing · grandiloquent · flamboyant
posturing
Insincere behavior for effect
- façadeFalse outward appearance
- airsPretentious behavioral displays
- poseurPerson feigning refined tastes
sham · phoniness · pomposity · pretense · showiness · ostentation · grandstanding · self-importance · snobbishness · superciliousness
mannered
Artificially formal in style
- contrivedDeliberately manufactured, unnatural
- stiltedUnnaturally formal in expression
- unnaturalContrary to normal order
forced · feigned · insincere · pretentious · put-on · studied · stiff · labored · overwrought · self-conscious
hammy
Excessively theatrical in style
- overactingExcessive theatrical performance
- melodramaticExaggeratedly emotional in expression
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
histrionic · dramatic · campy · exaggerated · over-the-top · mugging · scenery-chewing · grandiloquent · flamboyant · showy
affectednessnaturalness
Unaffected, uncontrived quality
unaffectedness · genuineness · authenticity · sincerity · artlessness
affectednessmodesty
Absence of vanity
simplicity · humility · unpretentiousness · plainness · down-to-earthness
affect, affected, affecting, affection, unaffected, affectionate, affects, affectation, disaffected