effective
/ɪˈfɛktɪv/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/əˈfektɪv/
effective adjective: having the power to produce a required effect or effects.
Adjective
effective (comparative more effective, superlative most effective)
- Having the power to produce a required effect or effects.
- The pill is an effective method of birth control.
- "Capital idea; we'll go together and complain: two will be more effective," suggested Mr. Belting.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- efficacious
- Producing a decided or decisive effect.
- The president delivered an effective speech!
- Whosoever is an effective, real cause of doing his neighbour wrong, is criminal.1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- telling
- Efficient, serviceable, or operative, available for useful work.
- How long does it take to make a bunch of civilians an effective military force?
- My effective income after taxes and child support is $500 a month.
- Antonyms:
- nominal
- Actually in effect.
- effective immediately
- The curfew is effective at midnight.
- Having no negative coefficients.
- Such that no group element acts trivially.
- approximate; Not describing the fundamental dynamic changes in some system as they happen.
Noun
effective (plural effectives)
- a soldier fit for duty
- The Army of the West reached Corinth sometime after the battle of Shiloh. We were 15,000 effectives, and brought Beauregard's effective force up to 45,000 men.1876, Dabney Herndon Maury; Southern Historical Society Papers: Volume 2, Number 4, Recollections of the Elkhorn Campaign
effective meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
effective in Hindi
- effective, influential
- प्रभावशाली prabhāvśālī
- effective, efficient
- सशक्त saśakt
effective in Tamil
- ஆற்றல் வாய்ந்த, செயல்பாட்டிற்குகந்த, திறம்பட செயலார்ந்த, நடைமுறைக்கேற்ற, திறனான, திறம்பட்ட
effective in Urdu
- effective
- مؤثر muassir
effective in Bengali
- effective
- সফল śophol
More languagesFewer languages
- effective in Malayalam
- ഫലപ്രദമായ, സഫലമായ, പര്യാപ്തമായ, പ്രാഭാവമുള്ള
- effective in Kannada
- ನಿರೀಕ್ಷಿಸಿದ ಪರಿಣಾಮ ಕೊಡುವ, ಫಲಪ್ರದ, ನಾಟುವ, ತಾಗುವ
- effective in Punjabi
- ਕਾਰੀ kārī, ਕਾਮਯਾਬ kāmyāb
- effective in Sanskrit
- साधन sādhana
- effective in Tagalog
- mabisa, epektibo, epektib, mapakipakinabang
- effective in Arabic
- فَعَّال faʕʕāl
- effective in Malay
- berkesan
- effective in Indonesian
- efektif
- effective in Thai
- มีประสิทธิภาพ, มีประสิทธิผล
Examples of effective in a sentence
- The effective radiated power is determined by multiplying the transmitter power output with the antenna gain.
- The effective voltage of an alternating current is 0.7 times its peak voltage.
Synonyms of effective
Antonyms
Forms of effective
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more effective |
| superlative | most effective |
| alternative form | eff. |
| Noun | |
| plural | effectives |
Origin of effective
From French effectif, from Latin effectīvus (“productive; effective”), from efficiō (“to make; to bring about”), equivalent to effect + -ive.
Words formed from effective
- bioeffective
- brake mean effective pressure
- coeffective
- cost-effective
- effectivate
- effective accelerationism
- effective accelerationist
- effective altruism
- effective altruist
- effective compression
- effective dose
- effective energy
- effectively
- effectiveness
- effective nuclear charge
- effective radiated power
- effective stack size
- effectivization
- effectivize
- Effie
- equieffective
- geoeffective
- ineffective
- isoeffective
- median effective time
- noneffective
- subeffective
- supereffective
- undereffective
- uneffective
Phrases with effective
Words that rhyme with effective
- projective
- subjective
- objective
- prospective
- reflective
- collective
- connective
- defective
- directive
- respective
- selective
- injective
28 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- detective
- elective
- irrespective
- perfective
- retrospective
- affective
- bijective
- corrective
- erective
- ineffective
- inflective
- intellective
- intersubjective
- protective
- refective
- advective
- convective
- deflective
- ejective
- imperfective
- infective
- inspective
- introspective
- overprotective
- rejective
- surjective
- unreflective
- unselective
Questions about effective
- What does effective mean?
- Effective means having the power to produce a required effect or effects.
- What is effective in Hindi?
- Effective in Hindi is प्रभावशाली (prabhāvśālī), सशक्त (saśakt). See Effective meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use effective in a sentence?
- The effective radiated power is determined by multiplying the transmitter power output with the antenna gain.
- What part of speech is effective?
- Effective can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce effective?
- Effective is pronounced /ɪˈfɛktɪv/.
Words near effective in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: effective (page history and authors); प्रभावशाली (Hindi) (page history and authors); effective (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); مؤثر (Urdu) (page history and authors); সফল (Bengali) (page history and authors); effective (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); effective (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕਾਮਯਾਬ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-effective.ogg.
Cite this entry: “effective.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/effective. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.