affordance
noun
af·for·dance ə-ˈfȯr-dᵊn(t)s 
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
Scott LafeeAn 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.
Eleanor J. Gibson et al.
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
- foraying into
- forays
- forays (into)
- forays into
- forb
- forbad
- forbade
- forbear
- forbearance
- forbearances
- conversers
- converses
- converses (with)
- converses with
- conversest
- conversi
- conversible
- conversing
- conversing (with)
- conversing with
- conversion
- conversion cost
- conversion disorder
- conversion hysteria
- conversion per accidens