affect

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English affecten , from Latin affectāre , from Latin affectus , the participle stem of Latin afficere ("to act upon, influence, affect, attack with disease"), from ad- + facere ("to make, do"). By surface analysis, af- +‎ Latin -fect .

• enPR: ə'fĕkt
• (Received Pronunciation , General American ) IPA ^(key): /əˈfɛkt/
  • Audio (UK ): (file)
• (Australia , New Zealand ) IPA ^(key): /əˈfekt/
  • Audio (Australia ): (file)
• Homophone: effect (weak vowel merger )
• Hyphenation: af‧fect
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

affect (third-person singular simple present affects , present participle affecting , simple past and past participle affected )

1. (transitive ) To influence or alter.

   Synonyms: alter , change , have an effect on, influence , play a role in, play a part in

   The experience affected me deeply.

   The heat of the sunlight affected the speed of the chemical reaction.

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second , volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     The climate affected their health and spirits.

   • 2012 January, Steven Sloman, "The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation", in American Scientist , volume 100, number 1, page 74:

     Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that "nudges" our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.

2. (transitive ) To move to emotion.

   Synonyms: move , touch

   He was deeply affected by the tragic ending of the play.

   • 1757, Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful:

     A consideration of the rationale of our passions seems to me very necessary for all who would affect them upon solid and pure principles.

3. (transitive , pathology ) Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).

   Synonyms: attack , harm , infect

   Hepatitis affects the liver.

4. (transitive , archaic ) To dispose or incline.
   • 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] [...] , London: [...] Matthew Simmons, [...], →OCLC:

     men whom they thought best affected to religion and their country's liberty

5. (transitive , archaic ) To tend to by affinity or disposition.
   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], "(please specify |book=1 to 3)", in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. [...] , London: [...] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, [...], →OCLC:

     The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.

6. (transitive , archaic ) To assign; to appoint.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair [...] , London: Bradbury and Evans  [...], published 1848, →OCLC:

     One of the domestics was affected to his special service.

7. (transitive , Scots law ) To burden (property) with a fixed charge or payment, or other condition or restriction.
8. (transitive , archaic ) To feign or pretend.
   • 1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], "(please specify the page)", in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:

     The light above the door made it unconvincing to affect that no one was at home.

Affect and effect are sometimes confused. Affect conveys influence over something that already exists, but effect indicates the manifestation of new or original ideas or entities:

• "...new policies have effected major changes in government."
• "...new policies have affected major changes in government."

The former indicates that major changes were made as a result of new policies, while the latter indicates that before new policies, major changes were in place, and that the new policies had some influence over these existing changes.

The verbal noun uses of affect are distinguished from the verbal noun uses of effect more clearly than the regular verb forms. An affect is something that acts or acted upon something else. However, an effect is the result of an action (by something else).

From Middle English affecten , from Anglo-Norman affecter ("strive after"), Middle French affecter ("feign"), and their source, Latin affectāre ("to strive after, aim to do, pursue, imitate with dissimulation, feign"), frequentative of afficere ("to act upon, influence") (see Etymology 1, above).

• enPR: əfĕkt', IPA ^(key): /əˈfɛkt/
• Audio (UK ): (file)
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

affect (third-person singular simple present affects , present participle affecting , simple past and past participle affected )

1. (transitive ) To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to assume. To make a false display of. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: fake , simulate , feign

   to affect ignorance

   to affect a British accent

   He managed to affect a smile despite feeling quite miserable.

   • c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, "The Life of Tymon of Athens", in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [...] (First Folio), London: [...] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     Thou dost affect my manners.

   • a. 1729, William Congreve, A Hue and Cry After Fair Amoret:

     Careless she is with artful care, / Affecting to seem unaffected.

   • 1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 12:

     He affected prescription lenses, framed in spidery gold, ground from thin slabs of pink synthetic quartz and beveled like the mirrors in a Victorian dollhouse.

   • 2016 November 23, Alan Wilkie (judge), R v Thomas Mair, sentencing remarks‎^[1] :

     You affect to be a patriot. The words you uttered repeatedly when you killed her give lip service to that concept.[...]You are no patriot. By your actions you have betrayed the quintessence of our country, its adherence to parliamentary democracy.

2. (obsolete , transitive ) To aim for, to try to obtain. [15th–19th c.]
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, "Measure for Measure", in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [...] (First Folio), London: [...] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     Duke.[...] I loue the people,
     But doe not like to stage me to their eyes:
     Though it doe well, I doe not rellish well
     Their lowd applause, and Aues vehement:
     Nor doe I thinke the man of safe discretion
     That do's affect it.

   • 1662, Jacques Olivier, translated by Richard Banke, A Discourse of Women, Shewing Their Imperfections Alphabetically, →OCLC, page 15:

     For it is believed, that he never was married, affecting and embracing Chastity through the whole course of his Life.

   • a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, "The First Book of Homer’s Ilias", in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, [...], volume IV, London: [...] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, [...], published 1760, →OCLC, page 430:

     Wise are thy words, and glad I would obey, / But this proud man affects imperial sway.

   • 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance", in Essays: First Series:

     I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated.

3. (transitive , rare ) To feel affection for (someone); to like, be fond of. [from 16th c.]
   • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, "The Two Gentlemen of Verona", in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [...] (First Folio), London: [...] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     There is a Lady in Verona heere
     Whom I affect: but she is nice, and coy,
     And naught esteemes my aged eloquence.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, "Book VI, Canto X", in The Faerie Queene. [...] , London: [...] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     From that day forth she gan to him affect, / And daily more her favour to augment [...]

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: [...], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: [...] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:

     A young gentlewoman in Basil was married[...]to an ancient man against her will, whom she could not affect; she was continually melancholy, and pined away for grief [...]

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; [...], London: [...] Iohn Williams [...], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), page 173:

     As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected, then affected; rather honoured, then loved her.

   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], "[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.", in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. [...] , London: [...] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, [...], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

     But when he pleased to show 't, his speech / In loftiness of sound was rich; / A Babylonish dialect, / Which learned pedants much affect.

4. (transitive , obsolete ) To show a fondness for (something); to choose. [from 16th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 9, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes [...] , book III, London: [...] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount  [...], →OCLC:

     Amongst humane conditions this one is very common, that we are rather pleased with strange things then with our owne; we love changes, affect alterations, and like innovations.

   • c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, "The Life of Tymon of Athens", in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [...] (First Folio), London: [...] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Go, let him have a table by himself, for he does neither affect company, nor is he fit for’t, indeed.

   • 1825, William Hazlitt, "On the Conduct of life: or Advice to a schoolboy" in Table-Talk Volume II, Paris: A. & W. Galignani, p. 284,^[2]

     Do not affect the society of your inferiors in rank, nor court that of the great.

   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance , London: Jonathan Cape  [...], →OCLC, pages 5–6:

     Think not, because he affecteth silks and jewels like a queen, and carrieth himself light and dainty as a silver birch tree on the mountain, that his hand is light or his courage doubtful in war.

• affected
• affectedly
• affectedness
• affectation
• affecter

From Middle English affect , from Latin affectus , adfectus ("a state of mind or body produced by some (external) influence, especially sympathy or love"), from afficere ("to act upon, influence").

• enPR: ă'fĕkt, IPA ^(key): /ˈæ.fɛkt/

affect (plural affects )

1. (psychology ) A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus.
   • 1899, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford, published 2008, page 62:

     if we are afraid of robbers in a dream, the robbers are certainly imaginary, but the fear is real. This draws our attention to the fact that the development of affects [translating Affectentwicklung ] in dreams is not amenable to the judgement we make of the rest of the dream-content [...].

   • 2004, Jeffrey Greenberg, Thomas A Pyszczynski, Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology, page 407:

     A third study demonstrated that the effects of self-affirmation on self-regulated performance were not due to positive affect.

2. (psychology ) Mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs. [from 19th c.]
   • 2026 September 4, Olga Khazan, "The Dark Side of Mindfulness", in The Atlantic‎^[3] , retrieved 19 September 2026:

     Britton has straight blond hair, blue eyes, and a muted affect. When you say something to her, she pauses, as if considering whether or not to smile. A colleague once suggested to her that she might be autistic. "And I’m like, ‘Okay,’" she told me one day recently.

3. (obsolete ) One's mood or inclination; mental state. [14th–17th c.]
4. (obsolete ) A desire, an appetite. [16th–17th c.]

Affect and effect can both be used as nouns or verbs, but when used as a noun the word affect is limited to the above psychology uses and the definitions for effect are much more common. See also the usage notes as a verb above.

• "affect", in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary , Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), "affect", in Online Etymology Dictionary .
• "affect, v.", in The Dictionary of the Scots Language , Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

Borrowed from Latin affectus .

• IPA ^(key): /aːˈfɛkt/
• Audio: (file)
• Hyphenation: af‧fect
• Rhymes: -ɛkt

affect n (plural affecten , diminutive affectje  n)

1. (psychology ) affect

• → Indonesian: afek

Learned borrowing from Latin affectus .

• IPA ^(key): /a.fɛkt/
• Audio (France (Vosges)): (file)
• Audio (France (Lyon)): (file)
• Audio (France (Somain)): (file)

affect m (plural affects )

1. (psychology , philosophy ) affect ; emotion

• affectif

• intellect

• "affect", in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• IPA ^(key): /əˈfɛk(t)/

affect (third-person singular simple present affects , present participle affectin , simple past and past participle affectit )

1. to affect
2. (law ) to burden property with a fixed charge or payment, or other condition or restriction

affect (plural affects )

1. affect, mood

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary , Scots Online.

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=affect&oldid=93130957"

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