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effector

American  
[ih-fek-ter] / ɪˈfɛk tər /

noun

  1. Also effecter a person or thing that effects.

  2. Physiology.  an organ or cell that carries out a response to a nerve impulse.

  3. Biochemistry.  a substance, as a hormone, that increases or decreases the activity of an enzyme.

  4. end effector.

    The device has three arms with effectors that can grip and pick up objects.


effector British  
/ ɪˈfɛktə /

noun

  1. physiol a nerve ending that terminates in a muscle or gland and provides neural stimulation causing contraction or secretion

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of effector

1595–1605; < Latin, equivalent to effec-, variant stem of efficere ( effect ) + -tor -tor

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.

"The presence/absence of large genomic regions across these lineages showed that horizontal transfers of effector genes, namely genes that are important in establishing successful infection, contributed to establishing host specificity."

From Science Daily

A research paper titled "Targeted recruitment of immune effector cells for rapid eradication of influenza virus infections" has been published in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

From Science Daily

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists found that how tight a parental T cell grabs a cancer protein determines if its daughter cells will be anti-cancer effectors or exhausted.

From Science Daily

Professor Simona Stäger points out that CD4 T cells normally differentiate into effector cells from "naive" CD4 T cells.

From Science Daily

These findings suggest that ATP and histidine act as effector molecules that trigger structural conformational changes in the ribozyme, which further influence enzyme stability and activity.

From Science Daily