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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

influence.

The power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions.

9 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɪn.flu.əns/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɪnˈflu.əns/US, nonstandard

  1. The power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions.

    countable · uncountable
    I have absolutely no influence over him.

  2. An action exerted by a person or thing with such power on another to cause change.

    countable · uncountable
    I'm not able to exercise influence over him.

  3. A person or thing exerting such power or action.

    countable · uncountable
    He has been a great influence on the voters during the elections.

  4. An element believed to determine someone's character or individual tendencies, caused by the position of the stars and planets at the time of one's birth.

    countable · uncountable

  5. The action of flowing in; influx.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable

  6. Electrostatic induction.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰlewH-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti? Latin fluō Latin īnfluōder. Latin īnfluēns Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Medieval Latin īnfluentiabor. Old French influenceder. Middle English influence English influence Inherited from Middle English influence, from Old French influence, borrowed from Medieval Latin īnfluentia, from Latin īnfluēns + -ia. Doublet of influenza.

verb/ˈɪn.flu.əns/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɪnˈflu.əns/US, nonstandard

  1. To have an effect on by using gentle or subtle action; to exert an influence upon; to modify, bias, or sway; to persuade or induce.

    transitive
    The politician wants to influence the public.
    I must admit that this book influenced my outlook on life.

  2. To exert, make use of one's influence.

    intransitive

  3. To cause to flow in or into; infuse; instill.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰlewH-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti? Latin fluō Latin īnfluōder. Latin īnfluēns Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Medieval Latin īnfluentiabor. Old French influenceder. Middle English influence English influence Inherited from Middle English influence, from Old French influence, borrowed from Medieval Latin īnfluentia, from Latin īnfluēns + -ia. Doublet of influenza.

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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.