The Collaborative International Dictionary
Effect \Ef*fect"\, n. [L. effectus, fr. efficere, effectum, to effect; ex + facere to make: cf. F. effet, formerly also spelled effect. See Fact.]
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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.
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Manifestation; expression; sign. All the large effects That troop with majesty. 
 --Shak.
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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.
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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.
- Power to produce results; efficiency; force; importance; account; as, to speak with effect. 
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Consequence intended; purpose; meaning; general intent; -- with to. They spake to her to that effect. 
 --2 Chron. xxxiv. 22.
- The purport; the sum and substance. ``The effect of his intent.'' 
 --Chaucer.
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Reality; actual meaning; fact, as distinguished from mere appearance. No other in effect than what it seems. 
 --Denham.
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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.