Word definition: affect

Etimology


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”).

verb


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

(transitive) To influence or alter.

(transitive) To move to emotion.

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

(transitive, archaic) To dispose or incline.

(transitive, archaic) To tend to by affinity or disposition.

(transitive, archaic) To assign; to appoint.

(transitive, Scots law) To burden (property) with a fixed charge or payment, or other condition or restriction.

Examples


Synonyms: alter, change, have an effect on, influence

The experience affected me deeply.

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

The climate affected their health and spirits.

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.

Synonyms: move, touch

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

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

Synonyms: attack, harm, infect

Hepatitis affects the liver.

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

The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.

One of the domestics was affected to his special service.

Etimology


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).

verb


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

(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.]

(obsolete, transitive) To aim for, to try to obtain. [15th–19th c.]

(transitive, rare) To feel affection for (someone); to like, be fond of. [from 16th c.]

(transitive, obsolete) To show a fondness for (something); to choose. [from 16th c.]

Examples


Synonyms: fake, simulate, feign

to affect ignorance

to affect a British accent

He managed to affect a smile despite feeling quite miserable.

Thou dost affect my manners.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 […]

As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected, then affected; rather honoured, then loved her.The spelling has been modernized.

The spelling has been modernized.

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

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.

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

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

Etimology


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”).

noun


affect (plural affects)

(psychology) A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs. [from 19th c.]

(obsolete) One's mood or inclination; mental state. [14th–17th c.]

(obsolete) A desire, an appetite. [16th–17th c.]

Examples


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 [...].

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

Related words


related terms

affection

affectionate

affective

Data provided by Wiktionary