Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The striking of one body against another; collision. synonym: collision.
- noun The force transmitted by a collision.
- noun The effect or impression of one person or thing on another.
- intransitive verb To pack firmly together.
- intransitive verb To strike forcefully.
- intransitive verb Usage Problem To have an effect or impact on.
- intransitive verb To have an effect or impact.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To drive close; press closely or firmly; pack in.
- noun The act of striking against something; a blow; a stroke.
- noun Specifically — In mech., the blow, or act of striking, of a body having momentum; also, the change of momentum in amount and direction produced by such a blow.
- noun In gunnery, the single blow of a projectile against a fixed or moving object.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Contact or impression by touch; collision; forcible contact; force communicated.
- noun (Mech.) The single instantaneous stroke of a body in motion against another either in motion or at rest.
- transitive verb To drive close; to press firmly together: to wedge into a place.
- transitive verb To affect or influence, especially in a significant or undesirable manner.
- transitive verb To collide forcefully with; to strike.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The force or energy of a
collision of twoobjects . - noun A forced
impinging . - noun A
significant or stronginfluence ; aneffect . - verb transitive To
compress ; tocompact ; to press or pack together. - verb transitive, proscribed To
influence ; toaffect ; to have animpact on. - verb transitive To
collide orstrike .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb press or wedge together; pack together
- noun a forceful consequence; a strong effect
- noun influencing strongly
- verb have an effect upon
- noun the striking of one body against another
- noun the violent interaction of individuals or groups entering into combat
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A number of studies on the social impact of the Tangaye project were undertaken by Roberts. 3 These studies examined the impact of mechanising arduous, time-consuming village tasks on the life of women, with the power source viewed as a black-box. 4 They were studies of the effects of pumped water supply and a power-operated grain mill in a remote village.
Chapter 6 1984
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Mr. Roberts said the company can better absorb the margin impact from the deal now that costs are lowered.
Brinker Profit Rises 36%, but Sales Slump Paul Ziobro 2010
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I define and use the term impact indicators as those issues that directly affect positively or negatively food security such as population, water, land, and economic growth/development.
Amb. Robin Renee Sanders: Sub Saharan Africa: Raising Its Profile on Global Food Security Issues -- Part One Amb. Robin Renee Sanders 2011
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I define and use the term impact indicators as those issues that directly affect positively or negatively food security such as population, water, land, and economic growth/development.
Amb. Robin Renee Sanders: Sub Saharan Africa: Raising Its Profile on Global Food Security Issues -- Part One Amb. Robin Renee Sanders 2011
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You guys are delusional … Flora brings together excellent quotes, and the main impact is … (as she puts in her piece), “the war will only be lost at home”.
Waldo Jaquith - Conservative blogger accidentally promotes Webb. 2006
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"There's still a lot of wariness of what that long-term impact is going to be."
Gulf Oil Spill 6 Month Anniversary: A Look At The Health Of The Ocean AP 2010
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The opportunity to hyper personalize communication and accurately track our members and their impact is here.
George Weiner: Is Your Data at a Middle School Dance? George Weiner 2010
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The opportunity to hyper personalize communication and accurately track our members and their impact is here.
George Weiner: Is Your Data at a Middle School Dance? George Weiner 2010
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But their impact is usually as decaying, moisture-laden tropical storms (wind speeds under 74 miles per hour) or their remnants, rather than hurricanes.
Otto may form, but tropical season slowing? Don Lipman 2010
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"There's still a lot of wariness of what that long-term impact is going to be."
Gulf Oil Spill 6 Month Anniversary: A Look At The Health Of The Ocean AP 2010
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The powdered slag and other materials are poured into a mixer that looks like a big food blender. The dry ingredients are pressed together — what Hughes calls “impact mixing.” This is not a gentle stirring but “pretty intense, the particles are really hitting each other, rubbing together, hard, sharing ions, reacting in the blender,” he said. This process, called alkali fusion, does not require heat, but it needs a lot of friction
twwilliams commented on the word impact
This word is used (and misused) in business speak: "that new product will have a big impact on our sales." Or worse: "the change to our commercial will be impactful on our third-quarter sales." Every time I hear the word used this way, I think about impaction of the bowel, and I see that Ninjawords uses that as an example in its definition of the word.
December 12, 2006
whichbe commented on the word impact
What's the impact this word?
October 9, 2008
raylee commented on the word impact
Impact as a verb is unpleasant, brutal, painful. I cringe. My skin crawls.
May 8, 2009
GlamourGirl commented on the word impact
I know it's a losing battle by now, but I will never abide this word as a transitive verb. You don't "impact" something, you "affect" it. You can destroy it, tame it, lengthen it, shorten it, kill it, nurture it, hurt it, help it, bend it, build it, or do any number of other things to affect it, but you don't "impact" it!
June 10, 2009
eggoabbas commented on the word impact
Using this as both a noun meaning "effect" and verb meaning "affect" avoids the confusion between these two similar words. Maybe this is why it's so popular.
June 27, 2009
raylee commented on the word impact
GlamourGirl, I agree!
November 16, 2009
jack_dharma commented on the word impact
I've never had a problem differentiating between "affect" and "effect." They are spelled differently and pronounced differently (however slight that difference may seem). Impact as a verb is used primarily by the moderately educated and the pretentious, such as weather forecasters who say things like: "The liquid precipitation will impact your commute tomorrow morning," when they should just tell us that it's going to rain.
January 1, 2012
tbtabby commented on the word impact
"In any given perception there is something which has been communicated to it by an impact, or an impression." -Biographia Literaria, 1817
The word had been used to describe a physical collision since the 1600s, but Coleridge was the first to use it in a metaphorical sense.
March 5, 2018