halo effect

American  

noun

1. a predisposition to admire all of a person's actions, work, etc., because of an estimable quality or action in the past.

2. Psychology. a potential inaccuracy in observation, as of a person, due to overgeneralization from a limited amount of evidence or the influence of preconceived beliefs or a priori hypotheses.

   The assumption that he is an authority on the subject is a halo effect of his Ivy League manner.

3. any desirable side effect.

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halo effect British  

noun

1. See horns and halo effect

2. the beneficial effect on sales of a company's range of products produced by the popularity or high profile of one particular product

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Etymology

Origin of halo effect

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

“Even as customers increase their AI spending with AWS, there is a halo effect where consumption of AWS core services also increases,” William Blair’s Dylan Carden said in a note to clients last week.

From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026

Rising gold prices may also be having a halo effect on jewelry.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

“It’s not just about a trust halo effect across the agencies. It’s also that agencies often use each other’s data as input for their own statistics.”

From Slate • Feb. 4, 2025

The halo effect describes our penchant to admire one thing about a person and then jump to the conclusion that they must be perfect overall.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2024

Whenever that halo effect happened, I wanted to stare at her until the sunlight stopped, but my heart stopped before the light did.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg