different between effective vs handy
effective
English
Etymology
From French effectif, from Latin effect?vus (“productive; effective”), from effici? (“I make; I bring about”).
Pronunciation
- (weak vowel distinction) IPA(key): /??f?kt?v/
- (weak vowel merger) IPA(key): /??f?kt?v/
- Rhymes: -?kt?v
Adjective
effective (comparative more effective, superlative most effective)
- Having the power to produce a required effect or effects.
- Synonym: efficacious
- Producing a decided or decisive effect.
- 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living
- Whosoever is an effective, real cause of doing his neighbour wrong, is criminal.
- 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living
- Efficient, serviceable, or operative, available for useful work.
- Actually in effect.
- (geometry, of a cycle or divisor) Having no negative coefficients.
- (physics, for any effective theory) approximate; Not describing the fundamental dynamic changes in some system as they happen.
Usage notes
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary from 1913 still lists efficient and effective as synonyms, but all major dictionaries now show that these words now only have different meanings in careful use. Use of both for the other meaning is however widespread enough that Longman's Exam Dictionary, for example, finds it necessary to proscribe the use of one for the other with several examples at each entry and provides the following summary:
- efficient = working quickly and without waste
- effective = having the desired effect
Related terms
Translations
Noun
effective (plural effectives)
- (military) a soldier fit for duty
- 1876, Dabney Herndon Maury, Southern Historical Society Papers: Volume 2, Number 4, 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.
- 1876, Dabney Herndon Maury, Southern Historical Society Papers: Volume 2, Number 4, Recollections of the Elkhorn Campaign:
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.f?k.tiv/
- Homophone: effectives
Adjective
effective
- feminine singular of effectif
Latin
Adjective
effect?ve
- vocative masculine singular of effect?vus
effective From the web:
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handy
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English handy, hondi (attested in personal names), alteration of earlier hendi (“handy, skillful”), from Old English hendi? (“skillful”) (as in listhendi? (“skilled in art”)), from Proto-Germanic *handugaz (“handy, skillful, nimble”), from *handuz (“hand”), equivalent to hand +? -y. Cognate with Middle Low German handich (“skillful, apt”), Middle High German handec, hendec (“manual, hand-held”), Old Norse h?ndugr (“efficient”), Gothic ???????????????????????????? (handugs, “wise, clever”). Akin to Dutch handig (“handy”), Norwegian hendig (“handy”), Swedish händig (“handy”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: h?n'di, IPA(key): /?hæn.di/
- Rhymes: -ændi
Adjective
handy (comparative handier, superlative handiest)
- Easy to use, useful.
- Nearby, within reach.
- Synonym: at hand
- Of a person: dexterous, skilful.
- Synonym: crafty
- (slang) Physically violent; tending to use one's fists.
- Of a freight ship: having a small cargo capacity (less than 40,000 DWT); belonging to the handysize class.
Derived terms
- handily
- handiness
- unhandy
Antonyms
- awkward
Translations
References
- handy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- handy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- handy at OneLook Dictionary Search
Etymology 2
hand +? -y (“diminutive suffix”)
Noun
handy (plural handies)
- (vulgar, slang) A hand job.
Translations
Etymology 3
Clipping of handgun +? -y (“diminutive suffix”)
Noun
handy (plural handies)
- (MLE, slang) A handgun.
Translations
Anagrams
- Haydn
Scots
Adjective
handy (comparative handier, superlative handiest)
- handy
- dexterous, skilful
- amenable (of an animal)
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- handyman
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