Dictionary
ef•fect
Pronunciation: (i-fekt'), [key]—
n.
1. something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence:
Exposure to the sun had the effect of toughening his skin.
2. power to produce results; efficacy; force; validity; influence:
His protest had no effect.
3. the state of being effective or operative; operation or execution; accomplishment or fulfillment:
to bring a plan into effect.
4. a mental or emotional impression produced, as by a painting or a speech.
5. meaning or sense; purpose or intention:
She disapproved of the proposal and wrote to that effect.
6. the making of a desired impression:
We had the feeling that the big, expensive car was only for effect.
7. an illusory phenomenon:
a three-dimensional effect.
8. a real phenomenon (usually named for its discoverer):
the Doppler effect.
9. See
special effects.
10. in effect,
a. for practical purposes; virtually:
His silence was in effect a confirmation of the rumor.
b. essentially; basically.
c. operating or functioning; in force:
The plan is now in effect.
11. take effect,
a. to go into operation; begin to function.
b. to produce a result:
The prescribed medicine failed to take effect.
—
v.t.
to produce as an effect; bring about; accomplish; make happen:
The new machines finally effected the transition to computerized accounting last spring. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
