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Charm vs Affect - What's the difference?

charm | affect |

In lang=en terms the difference between charm and affect

is that charm is to use a magical charm upon; to subdue, control, or summon by incantation or supernatural influence while affect is to make a show of; to put on a pretence of; to feign; to assume to make a false display of.

As nouns the difference between charm and affect

is that charm is an object, act or words believed to have magic power or charm can be the mixed sound of many voices, especially of birds or children while affect is (obsolete) one's mood or inclination; mental state.

As verbs the difference between charm and affect

is that charm is to seduce, persuade or fascinate someone or something while affect is to influence or alter or affect can be (obsolete|transitive) to aim for, to try to obtain.

charm

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) charme'' (chant, magic spell), from (etyl) ''carmen (song, incantation)

Noun

(en noun)
  • An object, act or words believed to have magic power.
    • a charm against evil
    It works like a charm .
  • The ability to persuade, delight or arouse admiration; often constructed in the plural.
    • He had great personal charm .
    She tried to win him over with her charms .
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.
  • * Milton
    • the charm of beauty's powerful glance
  • (physics) A quantum number of hadrons]] determined by the quantity of [[charm quark, charm quarks & antiquarks.
  • A small trinket on a bracelet or chain, etc., traditionally supposed to confer luck upon the wearer.
    • She wears a charm bracelet on her wrist.
    Synonyms
    * (something with magic power ): amulet, incantation, spell, talisman * (quality of arousing delight or admiration ): appeal, attraction, charisma * (trinket ): amulet, dangle, ornament
    Antonyms
    * (quality of arousing delight or admiration ): boredom, dryness
    See also
    * quark

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To seduce, persuade or fascinate someone or something.
  • * (John Milton)
    • They, on their mirth and dance / Intent, with jocund music charm his ear.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=The Celebrity, by arts unknown, induced Mrs. Judge Short and two other ladies to call at Mohair on an afternoon when Mr. Cooke was trying a trotter on the track. The three returned wondering and charmed with Mrs. Cooke; they were sure she had had no hand in the furnishing of that atrocious house.}}
  • To use a magical charm upon; to subdue, control, or summon by incantation or supernatural influence.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • No witchcraft charm thee!
  • To protect with, or make invulnerable by, spells, charms, or supernatural influences.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • I, in my own woe charmed , / Could not find death.
  • (obsolete, rare) To make music upon.
  • * (Edmund Spenser)
    • Here we our slender pipes may safely charm .
  • To subdue or overcome by some secret power, or by that which gives pleasure; to allay; to soothe.
  • * (Alexander Pope)
    • Music the fiercest grief can charm .
    Synonyms
    * (seduce, entrance or fascinate ): delight, enchant, entrance, win one over * (use magic ): bewitch, enchant, ensorcel, enspell

    Derived terms

    * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Etymology 2

    Variant of (chirm), from (etyl) chirme, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The mixed sound of many voices, especially of birds or children.
  • * 1667 , John Milton, Paradise Lost , Book IV:
    • Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet, / With charm of earliest Birds
  • * Spenser
    • free liberty to chant our charms at will
  • * 1955 , William Golding, The Inheritors , Faber and Faber 2005, p. 152:
    • The laughter rose like the charm of starlings.
  • A flock, group (especially of finches).

    • Anagrams

    * English collective nouns ----

    affect

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) affecter, (etyl) affecter, and its source, the participle stem of (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To influence or alter.
    • The experience affected me deeply.
    The heat of the sunlight affected the speed of the chemical reaction.
  • * Macaulay
    • The climate affected their health and spirits.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
    • , author=Steven Sloman, volume=100, issue=1, page=74, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation , passage=Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.}}
  • To move to emotion.
    • He was deeply affected by the tragic ending of the play.
  • * Edmund Burke
    • A consideration of the rationale of our passions seems to me very necessary for all who would affect them upon solid and pure principles.
  • Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).
    • Hepatitis affects the liver.
  • (archaic) To dispose or incline.
  • * Milton
    • men whom they thought best affected to religion and their country's liberty
  • (archaic) To tend to by affinity or disposition.
  • * Newton
    • The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.
  • (archaic) To assign; to appoint.
  • * Thackeray
    • One of the domestics was affected to his special service.
    Usage notes
    Affect'' and effect are sometimes confused. ''Affect'' conveys influence over something that already exists, but ''effect indicates the manifestation of new or original ideas or entities: * “...new policies have effected major changes in government.” * “...new policies have affected major changes in government.” The former indicates that major changes were made as a result of new policies, while the latter indicates that before new policies, major changes were in place, and that the new policies had some influence over these existing changes. The verbal noun uses of affect'' are distinguished from the verbal noun uses of ''effect'' more clearly than the regular verb forms. An ''affect'' is something that acts or acted upon something else. However, an ''effect is the result of an action (by something else).
    Synonyms
    * (influence or alter) alter, change, have an effect on, have an impact on, influence * (move to emotion) move, touch * (infect) attack
    Derived terms
    * affectingly

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (see Etymology 1, above).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To aim for, to try to obtain.
  • * Dryden
    • This proud man affects imperial sway.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.10:
    • From that day forth she gan to him affect , / And daily more her favour to augment […].
  • *, I.2.4.vii:
    • A young gentlewoman in Basil was marriedto an ancient man against her will, whom she could not affect ; she was continually melancholy, and pined away for grief […].
  • * 1663 , (Samuel Butler), :
    • But when he pleased to show 't, his speech / In loftiness of sound was rich; / A Babylonish dialect, / Which learned pedants much affect .
  • * Fuller
    • As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected than affected , rather honoured than loved, her.
  • (obsolete) To show a fondness for (something); to choose.
  • *1603 , (John Florio), translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , III.9:
  • *:Amongst humane conditions this one is very common, that we are rather pleased with strange things then with our owne; we love changes, affect alterations, and like innovations.
  • * Shakespeare
    • For he does neither affect company, nor is he fit for it, indeed.
  • * Hazlitt
    • Do not affect the society of your inferiors in rank, nor court that of the great.
  • To make a show of; to put on a pretence of; to feign; to assume. To make a false display of.
    • to affect ignorance
    He managed to affect a smile despite feeling quite miserable.
  • * Congreve
    • Careless she is with artful care, / Affecting to seem unaffected.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Thou dost affect my manners.
    Synonyms
    * (make a false display of) fake, simulate, feign
    Derived terms
    * affected * affectedly * affectedness * affectation

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) affect, from (etyl) affectus,

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) One's mood or inclination; mental state.
  • (obsolete) A desire, an appetite.
  • (psychology) A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs.
  • * 1999 , Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams , Oxford 2008, p. 62:
    • if we are afraid of robbers in a dream, the robbers are certainly imaginary, but the fear is real. This draws our attention to the fact that the development of affects in dreams is not amenable to the judgement we make of the rest of the dream-content [...].
  • * 2004 , Jeffrey Greenberg & Thomas A Pyszczynski, Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology , p. 407:
    • A third study demonstrated that the effects of self-affirmation on self-regulated performance were not due to positive affect .
    Usage notes
    Affect'' and effect can both be used as nouns or verbs, but when used as a noun the word ''affect'' is limited to the above psychology uses and the definitions for ''effect are much more common. See also the above.
    Derived terms
    * affect display * flat affect * labile affect
    Related terms
    * affecter * affective * affection * affectionate

    References

    * * English heteronyms English words affected by confusion