impactful

[im-pakt-fuhl]

adjective

1. having or manifesting a great impact or effect.

   After the senator's impactful speech, her bill passed.

impactful

/ ˈɪmpæktfʊl /

adjective

1. having a powerful effect or making a strong impression

   a thoughtful and impactful display of contemporary art

Usage

Impactful is one of those words that somehow arouse intense disdain, especially among editors and other would-be guardians of English. According to its critics, the word exemplifies “bad, ugly usage.” They call it “barbarous,” dismiss it as “a meaningless buzzword,” and hate it so much that they extend their contempt of the word to contempt for its users. Some justify their scorn by saying that the word lacks the original meaning of the suffix -ful —“full of”— as in remorseful or wrathful. But impactful, when it entered English in the mid-1960s, was formed and construed in the same way as other well-established adjectives ending in -ful. In fact, as the Oxford English Dictionary points out, the “full of” sense is considerably weakened in a large number of these -ful adjectives. Instead, the suffix is interpreted as “having” or “characterized by,” as in beautiful, lawful, or graceful. In other common adjectives, -ful can even be glossed as “causing feelings of,” as in wonderful and dreadful . Both of these senses of -ful work perfectly well with the noun impact. The aversion to impactful is reinforced by the distaste some people have for its root impact, especially when that word is used as a verb. (See usage note at impact ). But if impactful is indeed derived from the verb rather than the noun—which is not a certainty—there is nothing ungrammatical about that. When added to a verb, -ful has the meaning “apt to” or “able to,” as in mournful, wakeful, forgetful, and worshipful. Impactful may eventually settle into the language in similar fashion. In sum, impactful entered English as a normal part of language growth and change, and there is no legitimate linguistic reason to reject it. Although there are alternative words available, English welcomes synonymy. And although the negative reactions to impactful may well be further encouraged by a sense that it is commonly found in so-called business-speak or other jargon-filled contexts, in truth the word, from its beginnings, has also been recorded in reputable newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and books. Nevertheless, the very fact that so many people have passionate, unyielding objections to impactful makes it advisable to think twice before using it in contexts where it might not be accepted. Perhaps its variant impactive, with exactly the same meaning, is less likely to raise hackles. However, the “-ive” form appears in print only about one-fourth as often as the controversial impactful.

Word History and Origins

Origin of impactful¹

First recorded in 1960-65; impact + -ful

Example Sentences

Trier’s film overflows with the kind of genuinely impactful potential that we go to the movies for, the type that leaves us feeling understood more than it makes us feel good.

Read more on Salon

“Few partnerships,” Kentucky’s current governor, Andy Beshear, said at Collins’s funeral, “can claim more widespread or impactful results for our commonwealth or our people.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“Now in some cases, perhaps it is true that the financial hit to one or more of the parties could be extremely impactful.”

Read more on MarketWatch

"We saw that hot water immersion was the most impactful in increasing core body temperature, which is the main stimulus for these subsequent responses," Atencio said.

Read more on Science Daily

On the drive up to the Rose Bowl’s front door, underneath the legendary glowing sign, toward the picturesque purple mountains, there stands the most impactful symbol of the school that plays there.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• impressive 
• poignant 
• stunning