- effect
- effect n1 Effect, result, consequence, upshot, aftereffect, aftermath, sequel, issue, outcome, event are comparable in signifying something, usually a condition, situation, or occurrence, ascribable to a cause or combination of causes.Effect is the correlative of the word cause and in general use implies something (as a bodily or social condition or a state of mind) necessarily and directly following upon or occurring by reason of a cause{
the effect of the medicine was an intermittent dizziness
}{tanning is the effect of exposure to sunlight
}{low mortality, the effect of excellent social services available in every village— Petersen
}Result, close to effect in meaning, implies a direct relationship with an antecedent action or condition, usually suggests an effect that terminates the operation of a cause, and applies i more commonly than effect to tangible objects{his limp was the result of an automobile accident
}{the subsiding flood or surface waters cause mineral deposits and the result is a mound— Duncan-Kemp
}Consequence may suggest a direct but looser or more remote connection with a cause than either effect or result, sometimes implying an adverse or calamitous effect and often suggesting a chain of intermediate causes or a complexity of effect{one of the consequences of his ill- advised conduct was a loss of prestige
}{this refined taste is the consequence of education and habit— Reynolds
}Upshot often implies a climax or conclusion in a series of consequent occurrences or the most conclu-sive point of a single complex gradual consequence{we spent the time swimming at Glenelg and dancing at the Palais Royal in the city. The upshot was that, before we left ... we were engaged— Ingamells
}{they won the battle, and the upshot was a short-lived bourgeois republic— Lewis & Maude
}{the upshot of the whole matter was that there was no wedding— Colum
}Aftereffect and aftermath both usually designate secondary rather than direct or immediate effects.Aftereffect besides designating a secondary effect sometimes suggests a side effect but more generally implies an effect ascribable to a previous effect that has become a cause{the aftereffects of an atomic-bomb explosion— Current Biog.
}{although the pioneer effort had reached a dead end, its aftereffects were all too apparent— Kohler
}{to the left of the highway the blackened appearance is the aftereffect of a fire that has recently swept across the flat—G. R. Stewart
}Aftermath often suggests a more complex effect or generalized condition than aftereffect and usually carries the notion of belated consequences that appear after the effects, especially disastrous effects, seem to have passed{the serious dislocations in the world as an aftermath of war— U. S. Code
}{the aftermath of the epidemic in Memphis was worse than the dismal days of Reconstruction— Amer. Guide Series: Tenn.
}Sequel usually signifies a result that follows after an interval{spinal curvature . . . may be a symptom or a sequel to many different diseases— Fishbein
}{she lay rigid experiencing the sequel to the pain, an ideal terror— Stafford
}Issue adds to result the implication of exit or escape (as from difficulties); it therefore usually designates a result that is a solution or a resolution{a contest in which the issue is still the greatest and gravest of all, life or death— A. C. Ward
}{the war was by then obviously proceeding towards a successful issue— F. M. Ford
}Outcome, though often interchangeable with result or issue, may put less stress on the notion of finality than does issue{the outcome of the presidential election
}{the enduring organisms are now the outcome of evolution— Whitehead
}{one outcome of this report was the formation of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare— Current Biog.
}Event, which is both uncommon and somewhat archaic in this relation, usually carries the notion of an unpredictable or unforeseeable outcome and comes very close to the related eventuality in its implication of a possible or contingent effect or result{the happiness of Rome appeared to hang on the event of a race— Gibbon
}{he employed himself at Edinburgh till the event of the conflict between the court and the Whigs was no longer doubtful— Macaulay
}{the calm assumption that I should live long enough to carry out my extensive plan at leisure . . . has in the event been justified— Ellis
}Antonyms: causeContrasted words: determinant, antecedent, reason, occasion (see CAUSE): basis, ground, *base, foundation, groundworkeffect vb1 accomplish, achieve, *perform, execute, discharge, fulfillAnalogous words: *reach, attain, achieve, compass, gain: finish, complete, conclude, end, terminate, *close: implement, *enforce: *realize, actualize2 *affect
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
