Definitions for: Affect


[n] the conscious subjective aspect of feeling or emotion
[v] act physically on; have an effect upon
[v] have an effect upon; "Will the new rules affect me?"
[v] make believe; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache"
[v] have an emotional or cognitive impact upon; "This child impressed me as unusually mature"; "This behavior struck me as odd"
[v] connect closely and often incriminatingly; "This new ruling affects your business"



Webster (1913) Definition: Af*fect" ([a^]f*f[e^]kt"), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
Affected; p. pr. & vb. n. Affecting.] [L. affectus, p. p.
of afficere to affect by active agency; ad + facere to make:
cf. F. affectere, L. affectare, freq. of afficere. See
Fact.]
1. To act upon; to produce an effect or change upon.

As might affect the earth with cold heat. --Milton.

The climate affected their health and spirits.
--Macaulay.

2. To influence or move, as the feelings or passions; to
touch.

A consideration of the rationale of our passions
seems to me very necessary for all who would affect
them upon solid and pure principles. --Burke.

3. To love; to regard with affection. [Obs.]

As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected than
affected, rather honored than loved, her. --Fuller.

4. To show a fondness for; to like to use or practice; to
choose; hence, to frequent habitually.

For he does neither affect company, nor is he fit
for it, indeed. --Shak.

Do not affect the society of your inferiors in rank,
nor court that of the great. --Hazlitt.

5. To dispose or incline.

Men whom they thought best affected to religion and
their country's liberty. --Milton.

6. To aim at; to aspire; to covet. [Obs.]

This proud man affects imperial ?way. --Dryden.

7. To tend to by affinity or disposition.

The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.
--Newton.

8. To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to
assume; as, to affect ignorance.

Careless she is with artful care, Affecting to seem
unaffected. --Congreve.

Thou dost affect my manners. --Shak.

9. To assign; to appoint. [R.]

One of the domestics was affected to his special
service. --Thackeray.

Syn: To influence; operate; act on; concern; move; melt;
soften; subdue; overcome; pretend; assume.


Af*fect", n. [L. affectus.]
Affection; inclination; passion; feeling; disposition. [Obs.]
--Shak.


Af*fect", n. (Psychotherapy)
The emotional complex associated with an idea or mental
state. In hysteria, the affect is sometimes entirely
dissociated, sometimes transferred to another than the
original idea.

Synonyms: bear on, bear upon, dissemble, feign, impact, impress, involve, move, pretend, regard, sham, strike, touch, touch on

See Also: act upon, alter, alter, arouse, attack, bear on, belie, bother, brace, bull, bullshit, change, change, cloud, come to, concern, discommode, disoblige, disturb, endanger, energise, energize, experience, expose, fake, feel, feeling, hit, hit home, implicate, incommode, inconvenience, inebriate, infect, influence, ingrain, instill, intoxicate, jar, jaundice, loosen up, make relaxed, misrepresent, mouth, peril, perk up, pertain, pierce, play possum, process, put out, queer, redound, refer, register, relate, relax, repercuss, sadden, scupper, smite, soak, stimulate, stir, strain, strike, strike a blow, strike a chord, strike a note, strike dumb, strike home, subject, sweep away, sweep off, take a dive, tell on, tense, tense up, touch, touch, touch on, treat, trouble, trouble, ulcerate, unlax, unstrain, unwind, upset, work, zap

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