personal effects
Americanplural noun
Etymology
Origin of personal effects
First recorded in 1835–45
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.
Across the country, government agents have been losing government documents, personal effects, medical devices, and other belongings after confiscating them, effectively turning released immigrants into legal non-persons.
From Salon • Mar. 4, 2026
After receiving the report from the mountaineers, officers reached the site by helicopter to collect the remains and personal effects from the Ober Gabelhorn glacier.
From Barron's • Nov. 12, 2025
Under that water, buildings, statuary, coins and royal personal effects came to rest, and waited to be found.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 14, 2025
After Schleifer’s work phone was wiped remotely and his computer locked him out, fellow prosecutors helped him box up family photos and personal effects before he left.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 29, 2025
Among the personal effects that authorities will later find are a broken comb, tobacco, embroidered slippers, and one very telling scrap of paper.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
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.
