affected
1 Americanadjective
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acted upon; influenced.
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influenced in a harmful way; impaired, harmed, or attacked, as by climate or disease.
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(of the mind or feelings) impressed; moved; touched.
She was deeply affected by their generosity.
adjective
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assumed artificially; unnatural; feigned.
affected sophistication; an affected British accent.
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assuming or pretending to possess that which is not natural.
Her affected wealth and social pedigree are so obviously false that it's embarrassing.
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inclined or disposed.
well affected toward the speaker's cause.
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held in affection; fancied.
a novel much affected by our grandparents.
adjective
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behaving, speaking, etc, in an artificial or assumed way, esp in order to impress others
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feigned
affected indifference
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archaic inclined; disposed
adjective
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deeply moved, esp by sorrow or grief
he was greatly affected by her departure
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changed, esp detrimentally
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of affected1
First recorded in 1570–80; affect 1 + -ed 2
Origin of affected2
Explanation
Something that's affected is influenced or acted upon. If a bottle of ointment says "apply to the affected area," you should put the medication only on the parts of your skin that touched the poison ivy. One of the most common vocabulary mix-ups is effect and affect: effect is usually a noun, and affect is usually a verb that means "to influence" of "act upon." Affected is the adjective form of the verb. After a flood, affected homeowners might try to get insurance. A sad movie might leave you deeply affected. The word can also refer to behavior that's done only to impress someone: if you're acting affected, you might use big, fake melodramatic gestures.
Vocabulary lists containing affected
The Catcher in the Rye
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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The Words of Nick Carraway
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
County Fire Department, told The Times shortly after 4:30 p.m. that three homes had been affected by the fire, though the exact level of impact was unclear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
American colleges and universities are part of the wider society and are affected by broad social trends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
"I want to extend my thoughts to local people who have been affected," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Citi expects companies linked to power generation and data centers to be more affected by the flow of news surrounding the midterm elections than semiconductor and memory stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Pyle wrote of the shooting, “The experience affected Warden White, as it would anyone. It didn’t make him afraid, but it made him jumpy, and kind of haunted.”
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
