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Effective vs Effort - What's the difference?

effective | effort |

As nouns the difference between effective and effort

is that effective is (military) a soldier fit for duty while effort is the work involved in performing an activity; exertion.

As an adjective effective

is having the power to produce a required effect or effects.

As a verb effort is

(uncommon|intransitive) to make an effort.

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.
    • ----

    effort

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The work involved in performing an activity; exertion.
  • * , chapter=23
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=June 22, author=Press Association, work=The Guardian
    • , title= Manchester United offer Park Ji-sung a new two-year contract , passage=The 30-year-old South Korean, who joined United in 2005, retired from international duty after last season's Asian Cup in an effort to prolong his club}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
    • , title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.}}
  • An endeavour.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter
    • , volume=100, issue=2, page=87, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.}}
  • A force acting on a body in the direction of its motion.
    • (Rankine)

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often used with "effort": conscious, good, poor, etc.

    Synonyms

    *

    Derived terms

    * best efforts * centre of effort * effort distance * effortless * make an effort

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (uncommon) To make an effort.
  • (obsolete) To stimulate.
  • * Fuller
    • He efforted his spirits.

    Statistics

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