Definition (NCI_NCI-GLOSS) A type of lung disease marked by permanent damage to tissues in the lungs, making it hard to breathe. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease includes chronic bronchitis, in which the bronchi (large air passages) are inflamed and scarred, and emphysema, in which the alveoli (tiny air sacs) are damaged.
Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition: 1  affluent(noun) an affluent person; a person who is financially well off. the so-called emerging affluents. 2  feeder, tributary, confluent, affluent(adj) a branch that flows into the main stream.
early 13c., a morbid swelling, from swell (v.). In reference to a rise of the sea, it is attested from c.1600. The meaning wealthy, elegant person is first recorded 1786; hence the adjectival meaning fashionably dressed or equipped (1810), both from the notion of puffed-up, pompous behavior. The sense of good, excellent first occurs 1897, and as a stand-alone expression of satisfaction it is recorded from 1930 in American English.