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.
“But to me, it also seems like it’s somewhat intentional. Because why wouldn’t you as an agency, provide people their their personal documents or personal effects when they get released?”
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
It said the documents, which arrived in Argentina on board the Nan-a-Maru steamship from Tokyo in June 1941, had been declared as "personal effects" by the German embassy in Buenos Aires at the time.
From BBC ● May 12, 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.
