effective.
Having the power to produce a required effect or effects.
Meaning & usage
Having the power to produce a required effect or effects.
The pill is an effective method of birth control.
Producing a decided or decisive effect.
The president delivered an effective speech!
Efficient, serviceable, or operative, available for useful work.
How long does it take to make a bunch of civilians an effective military force?
My effective income after taxes and child support is $500 a month.
Actually in effect.
effective immediately
The curfew is effective at midnight.
Having no negative coefficients.
Such that no group element acts trivially.
approximate; Not describing the fundamental dynamic changes in some system as they happen.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti Proto-Italic *θakjō Proto-Italic *fakjō Latin faciō Latin efficiō Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Latin effectīvusbor. French effectifder. English effective From French effectif, from Latin effectīvus (“productive; effective”), from efficiō (“to make; to bring about”), equivalent to effect + -ive.
a soldier fit for duty
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti Proto-Italic *θakjō Proto-Italic *fakjō Latin faciō Latin efficiō Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Latin effectīvusbor. French effectifder. English effective From French effectif, from Latin effectīvus (“productive; effective”), from efficiō (“to make; to bring about”), equivalent to effect + -ive.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.