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. -
Manifestation; expression; sign.
All the large effects That troop with majesty.
--Shak. -
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. -
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.-
Reality; actual meaning; fact, as distinguished from mere appearance.
No other in effect than what it seems.
--Denham. -
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 "without effect".
As he was thus aiming among the crowd, he was seen by Adamas son of Asius, who rushed towards him and struck him with a spear in the middle of his shield, but Neptune made its point without effect, for he grudged him the life of Antilochus.
The adrenalin rush washed over him without effect, there was no response left in him.
Over and over again the English knights drew back a little so as to gain speed and impetus, and flung themselves on the Scottish spears, but ever without effect, while little by little the close ranks of the Scotch pressed forward until, as the space between their front and the brook narrowed, the whole of the English divisions became pent up together, more and more incapable of using their strength to advantage.
She had made every effort to banish the feeling, but without effect.
And are my vices only to direct my life, and my virtues to lie without effect, like some passive lumber of the mind?
In fact, Cromarty himself had argued vehemently with the Reuters and INS bureau chiefs in the Star Kingdom, but without effect.
I'd gotten drunk with him once and stoned with him twice without effect, and two days ago he'd gotten up from his desk, locked the empty and obsolete Security headquarters, and taken to the woods.
Jones, she shot from its corner a most penetrating glance, which, though great part of its force was spent before it reached our hero, did not vent itself absolutely without effect.
North pityingly implored the stubborn mind to have mercy on the lacerated body, but without effect.
Thousands of ten-minute intervals had passed in his life, unmarked and without effect.
The details of the war seem to slide off him without effect, but the gist of it cannot be too hard to grasp.
His eyes bulged with disbelieving terror, and he dragged at his sidearm, firing wildly and without effect into the mass of nightmare moving toward him as he screamed for mercy.
Jones endeavored to dissuade the old man from advancing the money, but without effect, and Rice sent a letter to Houston agreeing to supply one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and more in instalments of twenty-five thousand dollars each.
If it was a theatrical display, a parade worthy of a tilt-ground, it was yet a noble and imposing advent, and their gaping told me that it was not without effect.