Word.ws English Dictionary

special effect

special effect noun: an effect that cannot be reasonably achieved by normal means, as for example by the digital manipulation of previously filmed footage.

Noun

special effect (plural special effects)

  1. (plural, usually) An effect that cannot be reasonably achieved by normal means, as for example by the digital manipulation of previously filmed footage.
    • So popular was trickwork and spectacle with nineteenth-century audiences, in fact, that hundreds of plays were written solely as vehicles for magic, special effects, or elaborately trapped settings.2013, Joel Schechter, Popular Theatre: A Sourcebook, page 16
    Synonyms:
    FX, F/X, SFX, S.F.X.

special effect meaning in Arabic, Malay and Indonesian

special effect in Arabic

an effect that cannot be reasonably achieved by normal means
عنصر الإبهار ʕunṣur-u l-ʔibhār

special effect in Malay

an effect that cannot be reasonably achieved by normal means
kesan istimewa, kesan khas

special effect in Indonesian

an effect that cannot be reasonably achieved by normal means
efek khusus, efek visual

Synonyms of special effect

Forms of special effect

pluralspecial effects

Questions about special effect

What does special effect mean?
Special effect means an effect that cannot be reasonably achieved by normal means, as for example by the digital manipulation of previously filmed footage.
What is special effect in Arabic?
Special effect in Arabic is عنصر الإبهار (ʕunṣur-u l-ʔibhār). See Special effect meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is special effect?
Special effect is a noun.
What is the plural of special effect?
The plural of special effect is special effects.

Words near special effect in the dictionary

  1. special education
  2. special education advocate
  3. special education advocates
  4. special educator
  5. special educators
  6. special effect
  7. special effects
  8. special election
  9. special elections
  10. special event
  11. special events

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: special effect (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.

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