affectātio (better adf-), ōnis, f. adfecto, a striving after something (in a good or bad sense; for the most part only in post-Aug. prose). In gen.: philosophia sapientiae amor est et adfectatio, Sen. Ep. 89: magna caeli adfectatione compertum, i. e. perscrutatione, investigation, Plin. 2, 20, 18, § 82 (but Jan reads adsectatio): decoris, id. 11, 37, 56, § 154: Nervii circa adfectationem Germanicae originis (in the endeavor to pass for Germans), ultro ambitiosi sunt, Tac. G. 28: imperii, aspiring to the empire, Suet. Tit. 9.

— Esp., in rhetoric, a striving to give a certain character or quality to discourse without possessing the ability to do it, also an inordinate desire to say something striking, affectation, conceit: (ad malam adfectationem) pertinent, quae in oratione sunt tumida, exsilia, praedulcia, abundantia, arcessita, exsultantia, Quint. 8, 3, 56: nihil est odiosius adfectatione, id. 1, 6, 11; 8, 3, 27; 9, 3, 54; 10, 1, 82; Suet. Gram. 10; id. Tib. 70.