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Impacted vs Affected - What's the difference?

impacted | affected |

As verbs the difference between impacted and affected

is that impacted is past tense of impact while affected is past tense of affect.

As an adjective affected is

influenced or changed by something.

As a noun affected is

someone affected, as by a disease.

impacted

English

Verb

(head)
  • (impact)

  • 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

    affected

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • influenced or changed by something
  • The affected compass was impossible to use, so we got lost.
  • simulated in order to impress
  • He spoke with an affected English accent.
  • Emotionally moved; touched.
  • (algebra, archaic) adfected
  • an affected equation
  • Resulting from a mostly negative physical effect or transformation
  • See also

    * affectation

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone , as by a disease.
  • Verb

    (head)
  • (affect)
  • The thunderstorm affected the compass, and we got lost.

    See also

    * effected