effects
Americanplural noun
plural noun
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Also called: personal effects. personal property or belongings
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lighting, sounds, etc, to accompany and enhance a stage, film, or broadcast production
Synonym Usage
See property.
Etymology
Origin of effects
Plural of effect
Explanation
Effects are portable personal property not used for business. We most often hear this word in reference to one's "personal effects." The noun effects was first used in 1704 to mean "goods and property." It's your personal stuff, like keys, fine china collection, watch, car, or earrings. "Personal effects" is a phrase often associated with a last will and testament, when someone bequeaths certain items (or items in general) to someone else, but it can also refer to the belongings you remove from your pockets and fork over when you go to jail (which you'll then get back when you leave).
Vocabulary lists containing effects
The Bill of Rights
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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Girl in the Blue Coat
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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.
An enquiry having been made into the nature, preparation, and manner of using the sanative tea, there only remains to conclude this Second Part of the Essay with the consideration of its EFFECTS.
From A Treatise on Foreign Teas Abstracted From An Ingenious Work, Lately Published, Entitled An Essay On the Nerves by Smith, Hugh
But how must these evils appear in their extent, when the following view is taken of India teas, with regard to their variety of injurious EFFECTS.
From A Treatise on Foreign Teas Abstracted From An Ingenious Work, Lately Published, Entitled An Essay On the Nerves by Smith, Hugh
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.
