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Act vs Impact - What's the difference?

act | impact |

In transitive terms the difference between act and impact

is that act is to feign while impact is to collide or strike.

As nouns the difference between act and impact

is that act is a certain standardized college admissions test in the United States, originally called the {{term||American College Test}} while impact is the striking of one body against another; collision.

As verbs the difference between act and impact

is that act is to do something while impact is to compress; to compact; to press or pack together.

As a proper noun ACT

is initialism of Australian Capital Territory|lang=en, a federal territory of Australia.

act

English

Proper noun

(en proper noun)
  • , a federal territory of Australia.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A certain standardized college admissions test in the United States, originally called the (term).
  • *
  • Coordinate terms

    * (American College Test) SAT , GMAT , MCAT , DAT

    Anagrams

    * * * * English three-letter words

    impact

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The striking of one body against another; collision.
  • The force or energy of a collision of two objects.
  • The hatchet cut the wood on impact .
  • (chiefly, medicine) A forced impinging.
  • His spine had an impingement; L4 and L5 made impact , which caused numbness in his leg.
  • A significant or strong influence; an effect.
  • His friend's opinion had an impact on his decision.
    Our choice of concrete will have a tremendous impact on the building's mechanical performance.

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "impact": social, political, physical, positive, negative, good, bad, beneficial, harmful, significant, great, important, strong, big, small, real, huge, likely, actual, potential, devastating, disastrous, true, primary. * The adposition generally used with "impact" is "on" (such as in last example in section above) * There are English speakers who are so ). In defensive editing, the solution is to replace the figurative noun sense with effect'' and the verb sense with ''affect , which nearly always produces an acceptable result. (Rarely, a phrase such as "the impact of late effects" is better stetted to avoid "the effect of [...] effects".)

    Derived terms

    * impactful * impactive * impact statement * Western impact

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To compress; to compact; to press or pack together.
  • If fecal incontinence is caused by impacted stool in the rectum, the impaction must be removed.
  • (proscribed) To influence; to affect; to have an on.
  • ''I can make the changes, but it will impact the schedule.
  • To collide or strike.
  • When the hammer impacts the nail, it bends.

    Usage notes

    Some authorities object to the verb sense of impact'', meaning "to influence; to affect; to have an impact on" or "to collide or strike". Although most .

    Derived terms

    * impactor