These words all describe sb/sth that has a lot of money, property or valuable possessions. 以上各词均用以形容人富有或地方富饶。

• rich (of a person) having a lot of money, property or valuable possessions; (of a country or city) producing a lot of wealth so that many of its people can live at a high standard 指（人）富有的、富裕的，（国家或城市）富庶的、富饶的
• wealthy rich 指富有的、富饶的

rich or wealthy? 用 rich 还是 wealthy？

There is no real difference in meaning between these two words. Both are very frequent, but rich is more frequent and can be used in some fixed phrases where wealthy cannot. 上述两词在意义上无实质性区别。两词均很常用，不过 rich 更常用，并用于一些固定短语中，wealthy 则不能：◆He's stinking/filthy wealthy.◆It's a favourite resort for the wealthy and famous.

• prosperous (rather formal) rich and successful 指繁荣的、成功的、兴旺的
• affluent (rather formal) rich and with a good standard of living 指富裕的：◆affluent Western countries 富裕的西方国家

prosperous or affluent? 用 prosperous 还是 affluent？

Both prosperous and affluent are used to talk about people and places. Prosperous is used much more than affluent to talk about times and periods. Affluent is often used to contrast rich people or societies with poor ones. Being prosperous is nearly always seen as a good thing. * prosperous 和 affluent 均用以指人和地方。prosperous 较 affluent 更常用以修饰时期或时代。affluent 常用于人或社会的贫富对比，prosperous 几乎总是被视为好事：◆It's good to see you looking so prosperous. 看到你成功的样子真是令人高兴。◆It's good to see you looking so affluent.

• well off (often used in negative sentences) rich （常用于否定句中）指富裕、有钱：◆His family is not very well off. 他家境不太宽裕。 NOTE The opposite of well off is badly off, but this is not very frequent; it is more common to say that sb is not well off. * well off 的反义词为 badly off，但不常用；指人不宽裕较常用 not well off。
• comfortable having enough money to buy what you want without worrying about the cost 指富裕、宽裕：◆They're not millionaires, but they're certainly very comfortable. 他们不是百万富翁，但也很富裕。

Patterns

• a(n) rich/wealthy/prosperous/affluent/well-off family
• a rich/wealthy/prosperous/well-off man/woman
• a(n) rich/wealthy/prosperous/affluent country/city