Definition of "affect"

affect¹

/əˈfɛkt/

verb
third-person singular simple present affects, present participle affecting, simple past and past participle affected
1. (transitive) To influence or alter.
  Quotations
  The climate affected their health and spirits.
  1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 16, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
  Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.
  2012 January, Steven Sloman, “The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 74
2. (transitive) To move to emotion.
  Quotations
  A consideration of the rationale of our passions seems to me very necessary for all who would affect them upon solid and pure principles.
  1757, Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
3. (transitive, pathology) Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).
4. (transitive, archaic) To dispose or incline.
  Quotations
  men whom they thought best affected to religion and their country's liberty
  1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […]
5. (transitive, archaic) To tend to by affinity or disposition.
  Quotations
  The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.
  1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […]
6. (transitive, archaic) To assign; to appoint.
  Quotations
  One of the domestics was affected to his special service.
  1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848
7. (transitive, Scotland, law) To burden (property) with a fixed charge or payment, or other condition or restriction.

affect²

/əˈfɛkt/

verb
third-person singular simple present affects, present participle affecting, simple past and past participle affected
1. (transitive) To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to assume. To make a false display of.
  Quotations
  Thou dost affect my manners.
  c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii]
  Careless she is with artful care, / Affecting to seem unaffected.
  a. 1729, William Congreve, A Hue and Cry After Fair Amoret
  He affected prescription lenses, framed in spidery gold, ground from thin slabs of pink synthetic quartz and beveled like the mirrors in a Victorian dollhouse.
  1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, page 12
2. (obsolete, transitive) To aim for, to try to obtain.
  Quotations
  Duke.[...] I loue the people,But doe not like to stage me to their eyes:Though it doe well, I doe not rellish wellTheir lowd applause, and Aues vehement:Nor doe I thinke the man of safe discretionThat do's affect it.
  c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
  For it is believed, that he never was married, affecting and embracing Chastity through the whole course of his Life.
  1662, Jacques Olivier, translated by Richard Banke, A Discourse of Women, Shewing Their Imperfections Alphabetically, page 15
  Wiſe are thy words, and glad I would obey, / But this proud man affects imperial ſway.
  a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, page 430
  I seek the Vatican, and the palaces. I affect to be intoxicated with sights and suggestions, but I am not intoxicated.
  1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series
3. (transitive, rare) To feel affection for (someone); to like, be fond of.
  Quotations
  There is a Lady in Verona heereWhom I affect: but she is nice, and coy,And naught esteemes my aged eloquence.
  c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i]
  From that day forth she gan to him affect, / And daily more her favour to augment […]
  1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
  A young gentlewoman in Basil was married […] to an ancient man against her will, whom she could not affect; she was continually melancholy, and pined away for grief […]
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii
  As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected, then affected; rather honoured, then loved her.The spelling has been modernized.
  1655, Thomas Fuller, edited by James Nichols, The Church History of Britain, […], new edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, book, page 173
  But when he pleased to show 't, his speech / In loftiness of sound was rich; / A Babylonish dialect, / Which learned pedants much affect.
  1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, canto 1
4. (transitive, obsolete) To show a fondness for (something); to choose.
  Quotations
  Amongst humane conditions this one is very common, that we are rather pleased with strange things then with our owne; we love changes, affect alterations, and like innovations.
  1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 9, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book III, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]
  Go, let him have a table by himself, for he does neither affect company, nor is he fit for’t, indeed.
  c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]
  Do not affect the society of your inferiors in rank, nor court that of the great.
  1825, William Hazlitt, “On the Conduct of life: or Advice to a schoolboy” in Table-Talk Volume II, Paris: A. & W. Galignani, p. 284

affect³

/ˈæ.fɛkt/

noun
plural affects
1. (psychology) A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs.
  Quotations
  if we are afraid of robbers in a dream, the robbers are certainly imaginary, but the fear is real. This draws our attention to the fact that the development of affects [translating Affectentwicklung] in dreams is not amenable to the judgement we make of the rest of the dream-content [...].
  1999, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford, published 2008, page 62
  A third study demonstrated that the effects of self-affirmation on self-regulated performance were not due to positive affect.
  2004, Jeffrey Greenberg, Thomas A Pyszczynski, Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology, page 407
2. (obsolete) One's mood or inclination; mental state.
3. (obsolete) A desire, an appetite.

Definition of "affect"

affect1

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affect2

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affect3

noun

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affect¹

affect²

affect³