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The Collaborative International Dictionary
For effect

Effect \Ef*fect"\, n. [L. effectus, fr. efficere, effectum, to effect; ex + facere to make: cf. F. effet, formerly also spelled effect. See Fact.]

  1. Execution; performance; realization; operation; as, the law goes into effect in May.

    That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it.
    --Shak.

  2. Manifestation; expression; sign.

    All the large effects That troop with majesty.
    --Shak.

  3. In general: That which is produced by an agent or cause; the event which follows immediately from an antecedent, called the cause; result; consequence; outcome; fruit; as, the effect of luxury.

    The effect is the unfailing index of the amount of the cause.
    --Whewell.

  4. Impression left on the mind; sensation produced.

    Patchwork . . . introduced for oratorical effect.
    --J. C. Shairp.

    The effect was heightened by the wild and lonely nature of the place.
    --W. Irving.

  5. Power to produce results; efficiency; force; importance; account; as, to speak with effect.

  6. Consequence intended; purpose; meaning; general intent; -- with to.

    They spake to her to that effect.
    --2 Chron. xxxiv. 22.

  7. The purport; the sum and substance. ``The effect of his intent.''
    --Chaucer.

  8. Reality; actual meaning; fact, as distinguished from mere appearance.

    No other in effect than what it seems.
    --Denham.

  9. pl. Goods; movables; personal estate; -- sometimes used to embrace real as well as personal property; as, the people escaped from the town with their effects.

    For effect, for an exaggerated impression or excitement.

    In effect, in fact; in substance. See 8, above.

    Of no effect, Of none effect, To no effect, or Without effect, destitute of results, validity, force, and the like; vain; fruitless. ``Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition.''
    --Mark vii. 13. ``All my study be to no effect.''
    --Shak.

    To give effect to, to make valid; to carry out in practice; to push to its results.

    To take effect, to become operative, to accomplish aims.
    --Shak.

    Syn: Effect, Consequence, Result.

    Usage: These words indicate things which arise out of some antecedent, or follow as a consequent. Effect, which may be regarded as the generic term, denotes that which springs directly from something which can properly be termed a cause. A consequence is more remote, not being strictly caused, nor yet a mere sequence, but following out of and following indirectly, or in the train of events, something on which it truly depends. A result is still more remote and variable, like the rebound of an elastic body which falls in very different directions. We may foresee the effects of a measure, may conjecture its consequences, but can rarely discover its final results.

    Resolving all events, with their effects And manifold results, into the will And arbitration wise of the Supreme.
    --Cowper.

    Shun the bitter consequence, for know, The day thou eatest thereof, . . . thou shalt die.
    --Milton.

Usage examples of "for effect".

The entry was narrow, probably scaled down for effect, because I quickly passed into a large room with a thirty-foot ceiling.

Like I'd caught her in the throes of passion, maybe faking it for effect.

Jacqueline paused, not only for effect, but to take a deep, steadying breath.

She made a show of startlement, but I wondered if she was repeating the words for effect.

You pretend to volunteer a few bits of information, but the facts are all carefully selected for effect.

Where originally her grief had seemed genuine, I now suspected the emotion was being hauled out for effect.

Myles flipped his notepad open-just for effect, since she'd never known him to forget a thing.