Dictionary Definition
effect
Noun
1 a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some
previous phenomenon; "the magnetic effect was greater when the rod
was lengthwise"; "his decision had depressing consequences for
business"; "he acted very wise after the event" [syn: consequence, outcome, result, event, issue, upshot]
2 an outward appearance; "he made a good
impression"; "I wanted to create an impression of success"; "she
retained that bold effect in her reproductions of the original
painting" [syn: impression]
3 (of a law) having legal validity; "the law is
still in effect" [syn: force]
4 a symptom caused by an illness or a drug; "the
effects of sleep loss"; "the effect of the anesthetic"
5 an impression (especially one that is
artificial or contrived); "he just did it for effect"
Verb
2 act so as to bring into existence; "effect a
change"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /ɪˈfɛkt/, /I"fEkt/
-
- Rhymes: -ɛkt
Etymology
From effect (French: effet), from effectusNoun
- The result or
outcome of a cause. See usage notes
below.
- The effect of the hurricane was a devastated landscape.
- An illusion produced by technical means (as in "special
effect")
- The effect of flying was most convincing.
- An alteration in sound after it has been produced by an
instrument.
- I use an echo effect here to make the sound more mysterious.
- A device for producing an alteration in sound produced by an
instrument.
- I just bought a couple of great effects.
- The state of being binding and enforceable, as in a rule,
policy, or law.
- The new law will come into effect on the first day of next year.''
Related terms
Translations
the result of an action
movie and television industries term
- Japanese: 音響効果 (onkyō-kōka)
- Portuguese: efeitos especiais
- Russian: эффект
- Slovene: učinek
sound engineering and production term
- German: Effekt
- Japanese: エフェクター (efekutā)
- Portuguese: efeito sonoro
- Russian: эффект
state of being binding and enforceable
- Japanese: 発効 (hakkō)
- ttbc Lithuanian: padarinys , rezultatas , pasekmė
Verb
- To make or bring about; to implement.
- The best way to effect change is to work with existing stakeholders.
Usage notes
Do not confuse effect with “affect”. The latter is used to convey the influence over existing ideas, emotions and entities; the former indicates the manifestation of new or original ideas or entities:- “...new governing coalitions have effected major changes” indicates that major changes were made as a result of new governing coalitions.
- “...new governing coalitions have affected major changes” indicates that before new governing coalitions, major changes were in place, and that the new governing coalitions had some influence over these existing changes.
Synonyms
Translations
to make or bring about; to implement
Extensive Definition
Effect, from Latin effectus "performance,
accomplishment" can be used in various meanings:
- Any result of another action or circumstance (see pragma, phenomenon, list of effects);
- Cause and effect are the relata of causality;
- In movies and other media, sound effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds;
- In music, an effects unit is commonly used to manipulate the sound of musical instruments (see also: Effects pedal);
- In reference to one’s personal belongings.
Please note that although the word "effect" is
most commonly found in noun form, it also exists as a verb, and as
such is often confused with the word "affect" (itself most commonly a
verb, but occasionally found in noun form, especially in the areas
of psychology and
philosophy).
effect in Danish: Effekt
effect in German: Effekt
effect in Spanish: Causalidad
effect in French: Causalité
effect in Dutch: Effect
effect in Albanian: Pasoja
effect in Slovak: Determinizmus
effect in Thai: เอฟเฟกต์
effect in Chinese: 效應
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Z, abide by,
accomplish, achieve, actualize, actually, adhere to, administer, affective
meaning, aftereffect, aftermath, aim, ambition, amperage, angle, animus, apodosis, armipotence, artifact, ascendancy, aspect, aspiration, at bottom,
attain, author, authority, basically, bear, bearing, beef, beget, black power, brainchild, breed, bring, bring about, bring forth,
bring off, bring on, bring to effect, bring to pass, brute force,
call forth, capacity,
carry out, carry through, catastrophe, cause, ceasing, cessation, charge, charisma, charm, child, clout, coda, cogence, cogency, coinage, coloring, commit, compass, complete, composition, compulsion, conceive, conclusion, concoction, configuration, connotation, consequence, constitute, consummate, consummation, contrive, control, corollary, counsel, crack of doom, create, creation, creature, credit, crowning achievement,
culmination,
curtain, curtains, deal with, death, decease, denotation, denouement, descendant, desideration, desideratum, design, desire, destination, destiny, determination, development, dint, discharge, dispatch, dispose of, distillation, do, do the job, do the trick, do to,
dominance, domination, doom, draw down, draw on, drift, drive, duress, dynasty, effectively, effectiveness, effectuality, effectuate, efficacy, eidolon, elicit, eminence, enact, enchantment, end, end point, end product,
ending, energy, enforce, engender, envoi, epilogue, eschatology, essence, essentially, establish, esteem, event, eventuality, evoke, execute, expiration, extension, extract, facet, fashion, fate, father, favor, feature, fetch, figure, fill out, final solution,
final twitch, final words, finale, finality, finis, finish, fixed purpose, flower
power, force, force
majeure, forcefulness, form, found, fruit, fulfill, full blast, full force,
function, generate, gestalt, gestate, get, gist, give birth to, give origin
to, give rise to, go and do, goal, good feeling, grammatical
meaning, guise, handiwork, heir, hold, honor, idea, image, imago, impact, implement, implication, import, importance, impression, in effect, in
truth, inaugurate,
incept, incidental power,
induce, inflict, influence, influentiality, insinuation, inspire, install, instigate, institute, intendment, intension, intent, intention, invention, invoke, issue, izzard, knock off, last, last breath, last gasp, last
things, last trumpet, last words, latter end, lead, leadership, leverage, lexical meaning,
light, likeness, line, lineage, lineaments, literal meaning,
look, magnetism, main force, main
strength, make, make out,
mana, manage, manner, manufacture, masterpiece, masterwork, mastery, materialize, meaning, might, might and main, mightiness, mind, mintage, moment, more or less, motivate, motive, moxie, muscle power, new mintage,
nisus, object, objective, observe, obtain, occasion, offspring, omega, opera, opus, opuscule, organize, originate, origination, outcome, outgrowth, overtone, pay, payoff, perform, period, peroration, perpetrate, personality, persuasion, pertinence, phase, phasis, pith, pizzazz, plan, point, polish off, poop, posterity, potence, potency, potentiality, power, power pack, power
structure, power struggle, powerfulness, practical
consequence, precipitate, predominance, preponderance, prepotency, pressure, prestige, procure, produce, product, production, productiveness, productivity, project, promulgate, proposal, prosecute, prospectus, provoke, puissance, pull, pull off, punch, purchase, purport, purpose, pursuance, push, put away, put in force, put
through, quietus,
ramification, range
of meaning, real meaning, realize, really, reference, referent, regard, reign, relation, relevance, render, repercussion, repute, resolution, resolve, respect, resting place, result, rule, sake, say, scope, secure, seeming, semantic cluster,
semantic field, semblance, sensation, sense, sequel, sequence, set afloat, set on
foot, set up, shape,
side, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, simulacrum, sinew, sire, slant, so to speak, span of
meaning, spirit, steam, stoppage, stopping place,
strength, striving, strong arm,
structural meaning, study,
style, suasion, substance, subtle influence,
succeed, successor, suggestion, sum, sum and substance, superinduce, superiority, superpower, supremacy, swan song, sway, symbolic meaning, take and
do, take care of, take effect, tenor, term, terminal, termination, terminus, things, total effect, totality of
associations, transact,
transferred meaning, truly, turn out, turn the trick,
twist, unadorned meaning,
undertone, up and do,
upper hand, upshot,
validity, value, vehemence, view, viewpoint, vigor, vim, virility, virtually, virtue, virulence, vitality, wattage, weight, whip hand, will, windup, wise, work, work out, wreak, yield