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Apply vs Affix - What's the difference?

apply | affix |

As a verb apply

is to lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body.

As an adjective apply

is .

As a noun affix is

affix.

apply

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) applier, ((etyl) appliquer), from (etyl) . See applicant, ply.

Verb

(en-verb)
  • To lay or place; to put or adjust (one thing to another);—with to; as, to apply the hand to the breast; to apply medicaments to a diseased part of the body.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , author= , title=Translation of Virgil's Aeneid , passage=He said, and to the sword his throat applied . , year=1697}}
  • To put to use; to use or employ for a particular purpose, or in a particular case; to appropriate; to devote; as, to apply money to the payment of a debt.
  • To make use of, declare, or pronounce, as suitable, fitting, or relative; as, to apply the testimony to the case; to apply an epithet to a person.
  • * (rfdate) Milton,
    • Yet God at last To Satan, first in sin, his doom applied .
  • To fix closely; to engage and employ diligently, or with attention; to attach; to incline.
  • * 1611 , '', ''Proverbs 23:12,
    • Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
  • To betake; to address; to refer; generally used reflexively.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • sacred vows applied to grisly Pluto
  • * (rfdate) Johnson
    • I applied myself to him for help.
  • To submit oneself as a candidate (with the adposition "to" designating the recipient of the submission, and the adposition "for" designating the position).
    • I recently applied to the tavern for a job as a bartender.
    Most of the colleges she applied to were ones she thought she had a good chance of getting into.
    Many of them don't know it, but almost a third of the inmates are eligible to apply for parole or work-release programs.
  • To pertain or be relevant to a specified individual or group.
    • That rule only applies to foreigners.
  • (obsolete) To busy; to keep at work; to ply.
  • * Sir Philip Sidney
    • She was skillful in applying his humours.
  • (obsolete) To visit.
  • * Chapman
    • His armour was so clear, / And he applied each place so fast, that like a lightning thrown / Out of the shield of Jupiter, in every eye he shone.
    (Webster 1913)
    Related terms
    * applier * applicate * application * appliance * applicant * appliable * applicable

    Etymology 2

    Adjective

    (en adjective)

    • References

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    affix

    English

    (wikipedia affix)

    Noun

    (es)
  • That which is affixed; an appendage.
  • (linguistic morphology) A bound morpheme added to a word’s stem; formerly applied only to suffixes (also called postfixes), the term as now used comprises prefixes, suffixes, infixes, circumfixes, and suprafixes.
  • (mathematics) The complex number a+bi associated to the point in the Gauss Plane with coordinates (a,b).

    • Antonyms

    * nonaffix

    Hyponyms

    * (affixes)

    Coordinate terms

    * clitic

    Verb

    (es)
  • To attach.
  • * Ray
    • Should they [caterpillars] affix them to the leaves of a plant improper for their food
    to affix''' a stigma to a person; to '''affix ridicule or blame to somebody
  • To subjoin, annex, or add at the close or end; to append to.
    • to affix''' a syllable to a word; to '''affix''' a seal to an instrument; to '''affix one's name to a writing
  • To fix or fasten figuratively; with on'' or ''upon .
    • eyes affixed upon the ground
    (Spenser)