affect

English

Etymology 1

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”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ə.fĕkt', IPA^(key): /əˈfɛkt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt
• Homophone: effect (weak vowel merger)
• Hyphenation: af‧fect

Verb

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

   The experience affected me deeply.

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

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 16, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (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.

3. (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.

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

   Synonyms: attack, harm, infect

   Hepatitis affects the liver.

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

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

6. (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 Smith, and Benj Walford, printers to the Royal Society, , →OCLC:

     The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.

7. (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.

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

Usage notes

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).

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

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).

Pronunciation

• enPR: əfĕkt', IPA^(key): /əˈfɛkt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

Verb

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.

   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, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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.

2. (obsolete, transitive) To aim for, to try to obtain.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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 and R 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.
   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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: Printed by 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, book, page 173:

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

   • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “”, 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: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, canto 1:

     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.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 9, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book III, London: Val 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, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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,

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

Derived terms

• affected
• affectedly
• affectedness
• affectation
• affecter

Translations

Etymology 3

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”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ă'fĕkt, IPA^(key): /ˈæ.fɛkt/

Noun

affect (plural affects)

2. (psychology) A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs.
   • 1999, 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.

3. (obsolete) One's mood or inclination; mental state.
4. (obsolete) A desire, an appetite.

Usage notes

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.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• “affect”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “affect”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “affect, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin affectus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fɛkt/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

affect m (plural affects)

1. (psychology, philosophy) affect; emotion

Related terms

• affectif

See also

• intellect

Further reading

• “affect”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfɛk(t)/

Etymology 1

Verb

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

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

Etymology 2

Noun

affect (plural affects)

1. affect, mood

References

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