What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Effective vs Accurate - What's the difference?

effective | accurate |

As adjectives the difference between effective and accurate

is that effective is having the power to produce a required effect or effects while accurate is in exact or careful conformity to truth; the result of care or pains; free from failure, error, or defect; exact; as, an accurate'' calculator; an ''accurate'' measure; ''accurate expression, knowledge, etc.

As a noun effective

is (military) a soldier fit for duty.

effective

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having the power to produce a required effect or effects.
    • The pill is an effective method of birth control.
  • Producing a decided or decisive effect.
    • The president delivered an effective speech!
  • * Jeremy Taylor
    • Whosoever is an effective , real cause of doing his neighbour wrong, is criminal.
  • 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.
    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.
  • Actually in effect.
    • The curfew is effective at midnight.
  • Having no negative coefficients.

    • Related terms

    * effect * effectivity * effectual * efficacious * efficacity * efficacy * efficiency * efficient

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (military) A soldier fit for duty.
  • *1876 , , Recollections of the Elkhorn Campaign :
  • *: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.
    • ----

    accurate

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • In exact or careful conformity to truth; the result of care or pains; free from failure, error, or defect; exact; as, an accurate'' calculator; an ''accurate'' measure; ''accurate expression, knowledge, etc.
  • *
    • For more than 90% of the figures (mostly drawn during 1976-1990), either a scale, or the given magnification, will allow the user to derive accurate measurements, even when these are lacking in the diagnosis.
  • Deviating only slightly or within acceptable limits.
  • (obsolete) Precisely fixed; executed with care; careful.
  • * Bacon
    • Those conceive the celestial bodies have more accurate influences upon these things below.

    Usage notes

    * We speak of a thing as correct' with reference to some rule or standard of comparison; as, a '''correct''' account, a '''correct''' likeness, a man of ' correct deportment. * We speak of a thing as accurate' with reference to the care bestowed upon its execution, and the increased correctness to be expected therefrom; as, an '''accurate''' statement, an ' accurate detail of particulars. * We speak of a thing as exact' with reference to that perfected state of a thing in which there is no defect and no redundancy; as, an '''exact''' coincidence, the '''exact''' truth, an ' exact likeness. * We speak of a thing as precise' when we think of it as strictly conformed to some rule or model, as if ''cut down'' thereto; as a '''precise''' conformity instructions; '''precisely''' right; he was very ' precise in giving his directions.

    Synonyms

    * correct * exact * just * nice * particular

    Antonyms

    * inaccurate

    Derived terms

    * accuracy * accurately

    Anagrams

    * ----