ef•fect^*ɪˈfɛkt(n.)

1. something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence.

2. power to produce results; efficacy; force:

   The protest had no effect.

3. the state of being effective or operative; operation or execution:

   to bring a plan into effect.

4. a mental or emotional impression produced, as by a painting or speech.

5. general meaning or purpose; intent:

   I wrote a letter to that effect.

6. the making of a desired impression:

   The expensive car was only for effect.

7. an illusory phenomenon:

   a three-dimensional effect.

8. a scientific phenomenon (usu. named for its discoverer):

   the Doppler effect.

9. (v.t.)to produce as an effect; bring about; accomplish:

   to effect a change.

Idioms for effect:

1. in effect, essentially; basically.

   Category: Idiom

2. take effect, to go into operation; begin to function. to produce a result.

   Category: Idiom

^* Syn: effect , consequence , result refer to something produced by an action or a cause. An effect is that which is produced, usu. more or less immediately and directly: The drug had the effect of producing sleep. A consequence , something that follows naturally or logically, as in a train of events or sequence of time, is less intimately connected with its cause than is an effect: One consequence of a recession is a rise in unemployment. A result may be near or remote, and often is the sum of effects or consequences as making an end or final outcome: The English language is the result of the fusion of many different elements.Usage: See affect1.

Origin of effect:

1350–1400; ME < L effectus the carrying out (of a task, etc.), hence, that which is achieved, outcome

ef•fect′i•ble(adj.)