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
But what really struck a collective chord were the images of abandoned shoes, backpacks, T-shirts, jeans and other personal effects.
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2025
The one-armed smith had left few personal effects: the cup, six pennies and a copper star, a niello brooch with a broken clasp, a musty brocade doublet that bore the stag of Storm’s End.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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.
