efficient

[ ih-fish-uhnt ]

/ ɪˈfɪʃ ənt /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR efficient ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort; having and using requisite knowledge, skill, and industry; competent; capable: a reliable, efficient assistant.

satisfactory and economical to use: Our new air conditioner is more efficient than our old one.

producing an effect, as a cause; causative.

utilizing a particular commodity or product with the least waste of resources or effort (usually used in combination): a fuel-efficient engine.

Words nearby efficient

efficacity, efficacy, efficiency, efficiency apartment, efficiency expert, efficient, efficient cause, effie, effigy, effing, effingham

Origin of efficient

1350–1400; Middle English (< Middle French) < Latin efficient- (stem of efficiēns), equivalent to ef- ef- + fic-, combining form of facere to make, do¹ + -ent- -ent

SYNONYMS FOR efficient

1 effectual. See effective.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR efficient ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM efficient

ef·fi·cient·ly, adverbnon·ef·fi·cient, adjectivenon·ef·fi·cient·ly, adverbqua·si-ef·fi·cient, adjective

qua·si-ef·fi·cient·ly, adverbsu·per·ef·fi·cient, adjectiveun·ef·fi·cient, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for efficient

Build evidence about the practices, policies, and programs that will achieve the most effective and efficient results.
Can the U.S. Government Go Moneyball?|Peter Orszag, Jim Nussle|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Bureaucratic inertia is, by long tradition, the most efficient dispatcher of scandals.
The Castration of Alan Turing, Britain’s Code-Breaking WWII Hero|Clive Irving|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was all so efficient, and also much more fun and inventive than an app.
How Straight World Stole ‘Gay’: The Last Gasp of the ‘Lumbersexual’|Tim Teeman|November 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
France, and indeed Europe, was on the cusp of a new kind of living where governments needed to be efficient.
Napoleon Was a Dynamite Dictator|J.P. O’Malley|November 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Some call this HIV anxiety ignorant, and argue that protocols on both sides of the industry are efficient in their own ways.
Risky Business or None of Your Business? Gay XXX Films and the Condom Question|Aurora Snow|November 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Perhaps the most efficient flat-flame burners available prior to 1867 were those made by Mr. S. Leoni, of London.
Gas Burners|Owen Merriman
There are several types of these machines, all of which are efficient.
The Preparation of Plantation Rubber|Sidney Morgan
You acquiesced in the treating of the Sproxton men, as necessary to the efficient working of the reformed constituency?
Felix Holt, The Radical|George Eliot
She was bright, efficient, well liked by her employers (in one position five years).
Benign Stupors|August Hoch
They are well drilled in this, and many of their operations are systematic and efficient.
Address delivered by Hon. Henry H. Crapo, Governor of Michigan, before the Central Michigan Agricultural Society, at their Sheep-shearing Exhibition held at the Agricultural College Farm, on Thursday, May 24th, 1866|Henry Howland Crapo

British Dictionary definitions for efficient

efficient

/ (ɪˈfɪʃənt) /

adjective

functioning or producing effectively and with the least waste of effort; competent

philosophy producing a direct effect; causative

Derived forms of efficient

efficiently, adverb

Word Origin for efficient

C14: from Latin efficiēns effecting

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

efficient

adjective

Content related to efficient

Words related to efficient

Words nearby efficient

Origin of efficient

SYNONYMS FOR efficient

OTHER WORDS FROM efficient

Examples from the Web for efficient

British Dictionary definitions for efficient

adjective

Derived forms of efficient

Word Origin for efficient