affect

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
(ə-fĕkt') pronunciation
tr.v., -fect·ed, -fect·ing, -fects.
  1. To have an influence on or effect a change in: Inflation affects the buying power of the dollar.
  2. To act on the emotions of; touch or move.
  3. To attack or infect, as a disease: Rheumatic fever can affect the heart.
n. (ăf'ĕkt')
  1. Feeling or emotion, especially as manifested by facial expression or body language: "The soldiers seen on television had been carefully chosen for blandness of affect" (Norman Mailer).
  2. Obsolete. A disposition, feeling, or tendency.

[Middle English affecten, from Latin afficere, affect-, to do to, act on : ad-, ad- + facere, to do.]

SYNONYMS   affect, influence, impress, touch, move, strike. These verbs mean to produce a mental or emotional effect. To affect is to act upon a person's emotions: Adverse criticism of the book didn't affect the author. Influence implies some control over the thinking, actions, and emotions of another: "Humanity is profoundly influenced by what you do" (Pope John Paul II). To impress is to produce a marked, often enduring effect: "The Tibetan landscape particularly impressed him" (Doris Kerns Quinn). Touch usually means to arouse a tender response: "The tributes [to the two deceased musicians] were fitting and touching" (Daniel Cariaga). Move suggests a profound emotional effect: The account of her experiences moved us to tears. Strike implies keenness or force of mental response: I was struck by the sudden change in his appearance.

USAGE NOTE   Affect and effect have no senses in common. As a verb affect is most commonly used in the sense of "to influence" (how smoking affects health). Effect means "to bring about or execute": layoffs designed to effect savings. Thus the sentence These measures may affect savings could imply that the measures may reduce savings that have already been realized, whereas These measures may effect savings implies that the measures will cause new savings to come about.


af·fect2 (ə-fĕkt') pronunciation
tr.v., -fect·ed, -fect·ing, -fects.
  1. To put on a false show of; simulate: affected a British accent.
    1. To have or show a liking for: affects dramatic clothes.
    2. Archaic. To fancy; love.
  2. To tend to by nature; tend to assume: a substance that affects crystalline form.
  3. To imitate; copy: "Spenser, in affecting the ancients, writ no language" (Ben Jonson).

[Middle English affecten, from Latin affectāre, to strive after, frequentative of afficere, affect-, to affect, influence. See affect1.]

affecter af·fect'er n.

Top

1. These two words are often confused. It should be remembered that effect is most common as a noun meaning 'a result or consequence'
(In England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever—Oscar Wilde)
, and that affect is most common as a verb meaning 'to have an effect on' (Bodily exercise indirectly affects all the organs of the body / These measures chiefly affect [i.e. are directed at] drug-pushers / It will not affect [i.e. have a bearing on] his chances of promotion). As a noun, affect survives only as a technical term in psychology. As a verb, effect means 'to bring about, to cause, to have as a result' (to effect changes, to effect a cure, to effect a rescue).

2. Affect also means 'to assume (a character); to pretend to have or feel or do something, etc.'
(As he reached the pick-up point, he should affect to slow down as if hunting for a car—John Le Carré, 1989).
This is a different word although it is ultimately related to the one above.

Previous:aesthete, aesthetic, aerie, aery, aeon
Next:affinity, affix, aftermath
Top

verb

    To evoke a usually strong mental or emotional response from: get (to), impress, move, strike, touch. See touch/not touch.
affect2

verb

    To take on or give a false appearance of: assume, counterfeit, fake, feign, pretend, put on, sham, simulate. Idioms: make believe. See true/false.

An individual's emotional response to a situation. In sport psychology, it is often used synonymously with emotion.

A term used in psychology for a feeling or emotion, particularly one leading to action.

(Published 1987)

(af′ekt)
n

1. the feeling of pleasantness or unpleasantness produced by a stimulus. n 2. the emotional complex influencing a mental state. n 3. the feeling experienced in connection with an emotion.

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'affect'

Top
Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to affect, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Affect.

When used as a descriptor or adjective, affect means to change, and usually refers to an emotion or symptom. Affected, when used in a description, refers to fake or intentionally assumed behaviour (a changed behaviour), i.e., an affected accent. Affect can refer to facial expression or demeanor.

In general, to affect refers to the influence a change has on something else. In this sense, it is often confused with to effect, which generally means either "to cause/make/create a change" or to the result of a change. When used as a verb, "effect" refers to the cause of a change, or as a synonym for "created" or "made" ("The governor effected a change in policy"); while "affect" refers to the consequences of that change ("The new policy really affected our family").

As a noun, "affect" may refer to an emotion or to a psychological/psychiatric state (see below). As an adjective, it may refer to an assumed pretense: "Her affected accent really had an effect on me"; "Her affected accent really affected my view of her".

Affect may refer to:

See also


Top

Dansk (Danish)
1.
v. tr. - påvirke, ramme, berøre

2.
v. tr. - foregive, spille

3.
n. - affekt

Nederlands (Dutch)
beïnvloeden, (ont) roeren, doen alsof, voorkeur hebben voor, aantasten, gevoel

Français (French)
1.
v. tr. - affecter, influencer, (Jur) avoir une incidence sur, modifier, influer sur, atteindre, toucher, détériorer (la santé), concerner, émouvoir, attaquer, agir sur (en parlant d'un médicament)

2.
v. tr. - feindre, montrer une préférence pour, plaire/aimer (arch), tendre à (qch) par nature, imiter, copier

3.
n. - (Psych) affect, réaction, disposition, sentiment, tendance (arch)

Deutsch (German)
1.
v. - vortäuschen, lieben, vorziehen, nachahmen, sich zieren

2.
v. - beeinflussen, berühren, ergreifen, angreifen

3.
n. - Neigung, (Psych) Erregung

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - επηρεάζω, θίγω, άπτομαι, συγκινώ, επιδρώ, επενεργώ σε, (για νόσο) προσβάλλω, προσποιούμαι, υποκρίνομαι

Italiano (Italian)
ostentare, concernere, far soffrire, commuovere, influire su, influenzare, corrodere, fingere

Português (Portuguese)
v. - afetar, ter influência sobre, pretender ter, gostar, fingir, contaminar (Med.)

Русский (Russian)
воздействовать, волновать, тронуть, оказать влияние на, поражать (о болезни и пр.), изображать, притворяться

Español (Spanish)
1.
v. tr. - tener o mostrar afición a, gustar de, adoptar, seguir, admirar, frecuentar

2.
v. tr. - emocionar, conmover, tener influencia en, actuar sobre, afectar, fingir, dárselas de, echárselas de

3.
n. - emoción, influencia, actuación, conmoción

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - påverka, låtsas vara

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 影响, 爱好, 假装, 感情

2. 影响, 使感动, 使震动, 对...发生作用, 侵袭

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
v. tr. - 影響, 使感動, 使震動, 對...發生作用, 侵襲

2.
v. tr. - 影響, 愛好, 假裝
n. - 感情

한국어 (Korean)
1.
v. tr. - 영향을 미치다, 감동시키다

2.
v. tr. - 즐겨 쓰다, (형태를)취하다, ~인 체하다

3.
n. - 정서

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 影響を及ぼす, 作用する, 襲う, 感動させる, 気取る, ひけらかす, 好んで用いる, 好んで身に着ける, 住む, 冒す
n. - 情動, 情緒

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يتظاهر, يولع ب, يتكلف, يقلد, يختار, يفضل, يألف, يؤثر في‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮השפיע על, תקף (לגבי מחלה), עשה רושם, העמיד פנים, זעזע‬
v. tr. - ‮נגע ללב, חיבב, אהב להשתמש ב-‬
n. - ‮רגש, תשוקה‬


Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

Mentioned in