practical effect
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of practical effect
First recorded in 1980–85
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.
The practical effect may be minimal since the litigation probably won’t be fully resolved before the law’s 150-day shot-clock for imposing the tariffs ends on July 24.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
Passing the sentence, judge Justice McGowan said: "The sentence I impose today will have little if any practical effect."
From BBC • Nov. 20, 2025
The law will have little practical effect, since Los Angeles already draws a line between city officials and immigration enforcement.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2024
But those areas are not contiguous, and the practical effect is that secondhand smoke is present in varying degrees throughout the casino floor.
From Seattle Times • May 13, 2024
His proposal was so much the more readily accepted that it was suited to carry into practical effect, to a more than ordinary degree, the motto of the Order—Pauperes evangelizantur.
From The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volumes 1 to 4 by Dent, John Charles
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.
