Meaning of effect in English

effect

noun

/ɪˈfekt/ us

/əˈfekt/

effect noun (RESULT)

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B1 [ C or U ]

the result of a particular influence:

effect on/upon The radiation leak has had a disastrous effect on/upon the environment.

I tried taking tablets for the headache but they didn't have any effect.

I think I'm suffering from the effects of too little sleep.

to good effect She has a lot of confidence, which she uses to good effect (= to her advantage) in interviews.

See also

aftereffect

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

the result of something

resultHis firing was a direct result of his refusal to follow the employment policies.
effectThe radiation leak has had a disastrous effect on the environment.
consequenceFailure to do proper safety checks may have serious consequences.
outcomeIt's too early to predict the outcome of the meeting.
upshotThe upshot of the discussions is that there will be no further redundancies.
end resultThe end result of these changes should be a more efficient system for dealing with complaints.

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take effect

to produce or achieve the results you want:

They had to wait ten minutes for the anaesthetic to take effect before they stitched up the cut.

for effect

If you say or do something for effect, you intentionally do it to shock people or attract their attention:

I get the impression that she uses bad language in meetings for effect.

in effect

in fact, or in practice:

So in effect the government have lowered taxes for the rich and raised them for the poor.

to that effect (also to the effect that)

used to express that what you are reporting is only a short and general form of what was really said:

words to that effect She said she was unhappy, or words to that effect.

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Her words had a soothing effect.
This drug may have the effect of speeding up your heart rate.
I worry about the effect that violent movies may have on children.
Certain chemicals have been banned because of their damaging effect on the environment.
It's important to protect your skin from the harmful effects of the sun.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Outcomes and consequences

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effect noun (USE)

C2 [ U ]

use:

in effect The present system of payment will remain in effect (= be used) until the end of the rental agreement.

come into effect When do the new driving laws come into effect?

take effect The new salary increases will take effect (= begin) from January onwards.

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Their movements have been severely limited since the laws came into effect.
Measures to reduce crime have yet to be put into effect.
The new law will come into effect early next year.
The new rates came into effect from January.
It remains to be seen whether the government will bring these recommendations into effect.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Using and misusing

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effect noun (THEATRE, ETC.)

effects [ plural ] (also special effects)

lighting, sounds, and objects that are specially produced for the stage or a film and are intended to make something that does not exist seem real:

This is a movie worth seeing for its effects alone.

effect noun (POSSESSIONS)

effects [ plural ] law specialized

a person's possessions, especially after their death:

personal effects It says on the form that the insurance covers all personal effects.

Grammar

Affect or effect?

Affect is a verb meaning ‘influence or cause someone or something to change’: …

effect

verb [ T ]

formal

/ɪˈfekt/ us

/əˈfekt/

to achieve something and cause it to happen:

As a political party they are trying to effect a change in the way that we think about our environment.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Causing things to happen

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Succeeding, achieving and fulfilling

Grammar

Affect or effect?

Affect is a verb meaning ‘influence or cause someone or something to change’: …

(Definition of effect from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

effect | American Dictionary

effect

noun

/ɪˈfekt/

effect noun (RESULT)

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[ C/U ]

the result of a particular influence; something that happens because of something else:

[ C ] The medicine had the effect of making me sleepy.

[ C ] Cold water slows hurricane growth, but warm water has the opposite effect.

[ U ] The new management actually has not had much effect on us.

effect noun (USE)

[ U ]

(esp. of rules or laws) official or legal use:

Winter parking rules are in effect (= must be obeyed) .

All salary increases will take effect (= begin) in January.

effect

verb [ T ]

/ɪˈfekt/

effect verb [T] (ACHIEVE)

to achieve something and cause it to happen:

It will take years to effect meaningful changes in the educational system.

(Definition of effect from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

effect | Business English

effect

noun [ C ]

/ɪˈfekt/ us

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the result of a particular influence:

have/produce an effect Anti-inflationary measures do not yet seem to be having any effect.

effect of sth (on sth) The effect of the redundancies on morale has been extremely damaging.

see/feel/suffer the effects of sth Businesses are already feeling the effects of the new charges.

an adverse/negative/detrimental effect The slowdown will have a detrimental effect on earnings in the short term.

a significant/profound/dramatic effect

reduce/minimize the effects The problem is, how to deal with the demand for more and better goods while minimizing the effect on the environment.

They questioned whether financial liberalization had had the desired effect (= had done what it was intended to do).

be in effect

to be active or being used:

At that time a total ban on financial transactions was in effect.

come into effect (also take effect)

to start working or being used:

On April 1 new sales taxes will come into effect.

The new credit regulations will take effect next year.

in effect

in fact, or in practice:

The ruling meant that, in effect, the company was allowed to continue to do business as usual.

put/bring sth into effect

to start using something or making it work:

The aim is to develop new management strategies and put them into effect.

with immediate effect/with effect from

used to describe a change that happens immediately or from a particular date:

She was appointed chief executive with immediate effect.

The company has announced the appointment of 13 new partners, with effect from 1 July 2012.

effects

[ plural ] LAW

a person's possessions:

After his death, an inventory was taken of his effects.

Company relocation policies may cover the cost of insuring personal effects in transit.

Examples of effect

effect

The first two segments were designed to provoke disagreement, whereas the third segment permitted an assessment of carryover effects of the prior conflict.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Paths permitting additional direct effects are also included as part of the model.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The third approach uses planning effects on task performance to investigate how learners monitor their language.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This tool uses a set of known plans to learn the preconditions and effects of the action within the plans.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They have not studied directly the effect of depletion upon the remaining players and the characteristics of their game.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Qualitative and quantitative measures of the business environment are statistically strongly and significantly correlated with respect to their effects on business performance (ibid.).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This would provide a qualitative description of the mixing of single-particle and collective effects.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In 1997, a rice crop was grown without any treatment application to test for residual effects.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Physically, this 6 has the effect of a long-wavelength modulation to the system which would be the same for all the interaction coefficients.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Analysis of single channel records indicate that the effect is to favor transition to a substate rather than to physically alter the conductance pathway.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Part of the answer lies in the phonetic redundancy of the signal itself, and the rest in the effects of that redundancy on auditory processing.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The finding of differential effects on items of the same length cannot be explained by a purely quantitative constraint on storage.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Again, in this application the theory simplifies because of lack of a paternal genetic effect on the fruits (tomatoes are almost purely maternal tissue).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Here we add in the mediating variables of dietary change to examine what effect they have on this key element of psychological well-being.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Moreover, there was no effect of decision latitude on psychological distress.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with effect

effect

These are words often used in combination with effect.

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additive effect

An additive effect is when predation by two predators is equal to the sum of prey removed by each individual predator alone.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

adverse effect

Finally, when low-starch concentrates were fed to yearlings, even to the extent of reducing growth, no adverse effect on bone mineral deposition was observed31.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

anti-inflammatory effect

Furthermore, treatment with gamma globulin significantly reduced the incidence of fever and laboratory indicators of the acute-phase response, suggesting a rapid, generalized anti-inflammatory effect.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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What is the pronunciation of effect?