effect

Etymology

For noun: from Middle English effect, from Old French effect (modern French effet), from Latin effectus (“an effect, tendency, purpose”), from efficiō (“accomplish, complete, effect”); see effect as a verb. Replaced Old English fremming, fremednes from fremman. For verb: from Middle English effecten, partly from Medieval Latin effectuō, from Latin effectus, perfect passive participle of efficiō (“accomplish, complete, do, effect”), from ex (“out”) + faciō (“do, make”) (see fact and compare affect, infect) and partly from the noun effect.

noun

1. The result or outcome of a cause.
   The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. […] The bed was the most extravagant piece. Its graceful cane halftester rose high towards the cornice and was so festooned in carved white wood that the effect was positively insecure, as if the great couch were trimmed with icing sugar. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess
   The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll. 2013-06-08, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55
   The effect of the hurricane was a devastated landscape.
2. Impression left on the mind; sensation produced.
   patchwork […] introduced for oratorical effect October 1832, unknown author, “The Tears of Parents”, in The Christian Observer, volume 32
   The effect was heightened by the wild and lonely nature of the place. 1832, Washington Irving, Tales of the Alhambra
3. Execution; performance; realization; operation.
   1. (uncountable) The state of being binding and enforceable, as in a rule, policy, or law.
      The new law will come into effect on the first day of next year.
4. (cinematography, computer graphics, demoscene) An illusion produced by technical means (as in "special effect")
   The effect of flying was most convincing.
   The colored bands of color that strobe through much of the text and other visual elements are perhaps the most prototypical of all Amiga demoscene effects and, again, are a direct result of the hardware on which Megademo was created to run. 2018, Jimmy Maher, The Future Was Here: The Commodore Amiga, page 186
5. (sound engineering) An alteration, or device for producing an alteration, in sound after it has been produced by an instrument.
   I use an echo effect here to make the sound more mysterious.
   I just bought a couple of great effects.
6. (physics, psychology, etc.) A scientific phenomenon, usually named after its discoverer.
   Doppler effect
7. (usually in the plural) Belongings, usually as personal effects.
   His Goods, Family, and all his Effects were also ſeiz'd every where, and his Family carried into Priſon. 1690, “A Relation of the Late Great Revolution in Siam, and the Driving Out of the French”, in A Full and True Relation of the Great and Wonderful Revolution That Hapned Lately in the Kingdom of Siam in the East-Indies, London: Randal Taylor, page 7
8. Consequence intended; purpose; meaning; general intent; with to.
9. (obsolete) Reality; actual meaning; fact, as distinguished from mere appearance.
   no other in effect than what it seems 1642, John Denham, Cooper's Hill
10. (obsolete) Manifestation; expression; sign.

verb

1. (transitive) To make or bring about; to implement.
   The best way to effect change is to work with existing stakeholders.
   The punishment for sodomy, when completely effected, was death, and it was frequently inflicted. 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)
   The transfer by tender of some 1,300 mail bags was effected smartly, and the "Ocean Mails Special" train was ready at 9.19 a.m. 1944 July and August, Charles E. Lee, “The "City of Truro"”, in Railway Magazine, page 202
2. Misspelling of affect