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Intent vs Impact - What's the difference?

intent | impact |

As nouns the difference between intent and impact

is that intent is a purpose; something that is intended while impact is the striking of one body against another; collision.

As an adjective intent

is firmly fixed or concentrated on something.

As a verb impact is

to compress; to compact; to press or pack together.

intent

English

Alternative forms

* entent (obsolete)

Noun

  • A purpose; something that is intended.
  • (legal) The state of someone’s mind at the time of committing an offence.
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Firmly fixed or concentrated on something.
  • :
  • *2014 , Daniel Taylor, " World Cup 2014: Uruguay sink England as Suárez makes his mark," guardian.co.uk , 20 June:
  • *:Uruguay were quick to the ball, strong in the tackle and seemed intent on showing they were a better team than had been apparent in their defeat to Costa Rica.
  • *
  • *:And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed.
  • Engrossed.
  • Unwavering from a course of action.
  • 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