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Wreak vs Affect - What's the difference?

wreak | affect |

In lang=en terms the difference between wreak and affect

is that wreak is to cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury while affect is to make a show of; to put on a pretence of; to feign; to assume to make a false display of.

In archaic|lang=en terms the difference between wreak and affect

is that wreak is (archaic) to take vengeance for while affect is (archaic) to assign; to appoint.

As verbs the difference between wreak and affect

is that wreak is to cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury while affect is to influence or alter or affect can be (obsolete|transitive) to aim for, to try to obtain.

As nouns the difference between wreak and affect

is that wreak is (archaic|literary) revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment while affect is (obsolete) one's mood or inclination; mental state.

wreak

English

Etymology 1

(etyl) wrecan, from (etyl) ; cognate via PIE with Latin urgere (English urge), and distantly cognate to English wreck.

Verb

  • To cause, inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury.
    • The earthquake wreaked havoc in the city.
    She wreaked her anger on his car.
  • * Macaulay
    • Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years.
  • (archaic) To inflict or take vengeance on.
  • * 1874 ,
    • ''their woe
    ''Broods maddening inwardly and scorns to wreak
    ''Itself abroad;
  • * 1856-1885 —
    • Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1917 , year_published=2008 , edition=HTML , editor= , author=Edgar Rice Burroughs , title=A Princess of Mars , chapter= citation , genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=At heart they hate their horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who stand for everything they have not, … }}
  • (archaic) To take vengeance for.
  • * Fairfax
    • Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain.
    Usage notes
    The verb wreak'' is generally used in the form “wreak ''damage or harm of some sort'' (on ''something )”, and is often used in the set phrase wreak havoc, though “wreak damage”, “wreak destruction”, and “wreak revenge” are also common. Not to be confused with wreck, with similar meaning of destruction and similar etymological roots; common confusion in misspelling wreck havoc. It has become common to use wrought, the original past tense and participle for work, as the past tense and past participle for wreak'', as in ''wrought havoc'' (i.e. ''worked havoc'' for ''wreaked havoc''), due both to the fact that the weak form ''worked'' has edged out ''wrought'' from its former role almost entirely (except as an adjective referring usually to hand-worked metal goods), and via confusion from the ''wr-'' beginning both ''wreak'' and ''wrought , and probably by analogy with seek).
    Derived terms
    * wreak havoc

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) wreke, wrake, Northern Middle English variants of wreche, influenced later by Etymology 1, above. Compare (etyl) wraak.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic, literary) Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
  • * 1903 , George Chapman, Richard Herne Shepherd, Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Works of George Chapman :
    • However, no thought touch'd Minerva's mind, That any one should escape his wreak design'd.
  • * 2003 , John Foxe, John Cumming, Book of Martyrs and the Acts and Monuments of the Church :
    • For three causes Duke William entered this land to subdue Harold. One was, for that it was to him given by King Edward his nephew. The second was, to take wreak for the cruel murder of his nephew Alfred, King Edward's brother, and of the Normans, which deed he ascribed chiefly to Harold.
  • * 2006 , The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - Volume 2 - Page 188:
    • Would that before my death I might but see my son The empery in my stead over the people hold And rush upon his foes and take on them his wreak , At push of sword and pike, in fury uncontrolled.
  • (archaic, literary) Punishment; retribution; payback.
  • * 1885': Of a surety none murdered the damsel but I; take her '''wreak on me this moment — Sir Richard Burton, ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night , Night 19

    • References

    Anagrams

    * English irregular verbs

    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