Pronunciations (6)
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/əˈfɛkt/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
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/əˈfekt/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
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/əˈfɛkt/
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/ˈæ.fɛkt/
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ˈæ.fɛkt
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əˈfɛkt
Verb
To influence or alter.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The experience affected me deeply.
The heat of the sunlight affected the speed of the chemical reaction.
More examples (2)
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.
To move to emotion.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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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.
Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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Hepatitis affects the liver.
To dispose or incline.
Usage- Archaic
- Transitive
- Examples
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men whom they thought best affected to religion and their country's liberty
To tend to by affinity or disposition.
Usage- Archaic
- Transitive
- Examples
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The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.
To assign; to appoint.
Usage- Archaic
- Transitive
- Examples
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One of the domestics was affected to his special service.
To burden (property) with a fixed charge or payment, or other condition or restriction.
Usage- Transitive
To feign or pretend.
Usage- Archaic
- Transitive
- Examples
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The light above the door made it unconvincing to affect that no one was at home.
Verb
To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to assume. To make a false display of.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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to affect ignorance
to affect a British accent
More examples (5)
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.
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.
To aim for, to try to obtain.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
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.
More examples (1)
I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated.
To feel affection for (someone); to like, be fond of.
Usage- Rare
- Transitive
- Examples
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There is a Lady in Verona heere Whom 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 […]
More examples (3)
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.
But when he pleased to show 't, his speech / In loftiness of sound was rich; / A Babylonish dialect, / Which learned pedants much affect.
To show a fondness for (something); to choose.
Usage- Obsolete
- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
More examples (2)
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.
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.
Noun
A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
One's mood or inclination; mental state.
Usage- Obsolete
A desire, an appetite.
Usage- Obsolete
Noun
the conscious subjective aspect of feeling or emotion
- Broader terms
Verb
have an effect upon
- Examples
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Will the new rules affect me?
act physically on; have an effect upon
- Examples
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the medicine affects my heart rate
connect closely and often incriminatingly
- Examples
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This new ruling affects your business
make believe with the intent to deceive
- Broader terms
- Examples
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He feigned that he was ill
He shammed a headache
have an emotional or cognitive impact upon
- Examples
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This child impressed me as unusually mature
This behavior struck me as odd
More examples (2)
he was dumb-struck by the news
her comments struck a sour note