different between efficient vs strong

English

Etymology

1398, “making,” from Old French, from Latin efficientem, nominative effici?ns, participle of efficere (“work out, accomplish”) (see effect). Meaning “productive, skilled” is from 1787. Efficiency apartment is first recorded 1930, American English.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??f???nt/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /??f???nt/
• Rhymes: -???nt

Adjective

efficient (comparative more efficient, superlative most efficient)

1. making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy

2. expressing the proportion of consumed energy that was successfully used in a process; the ratio of useful output to total input

3. causing effects, producing results; bringing into being; initiating change (rare except in philosophical and legal expression efficient cause = causative factor or agent)

   • It was well said of Plotinus, that the stars were significant, but not efficient.

4. (proscribed, old use) effective
   • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer:

     Ye wake no more to anguish;? ye have borne
     The Chosen, the Destroyer!? soon his hand
     Shall strike the efficient blow;
     Soon shaking off your penal forms, shall ye,
     With songs of joy, amid the Eden groves,
     Hymn the Deliverer’s praise!

   • 1856, William Dexter Wilson, An Elementary Treatise on Logic

     The Efficient Cause is that from which emanates the force that produces the Effect

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”)

Antonyms

• inefficient

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

efficient (plural efficients)

1. (obsolete) a cause; something that causes an effect
   • 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, I.14:

     Some are without efficient, as God; others without matter, as Angels […].

   • a. 1758, Jonathan Edwards, Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity

     This implies, that something happens without a cause. If it should be said, that motive in this case is not the efficient of the action or doing — this is granted; but at the same time, for reasons already given, it is denied, that the man himself is the efficient cause of it.

References

Danish

Adjective

efficient

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Inflection

Further reading

• “efficient” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

From Latin effici?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fi.sj??/
• Homophone: efficients

Adjective

efficient (feminine singular efficiente, masculine plural efficients, feminine plural efficientes)

1. efficient
2. effective

Related terms

• efficience

Further reading

• “efficient” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ef?fi.ki.ent/, [?f?f?ki?n?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ef?fi.t??i.ent/, [?f?fi?t??i?n?t?]

Verb

efficient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of effici?

English

Alternative forms

• strang (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English strong, strang, from Old English strong, strang (“strong, powerful, mighty, able; firm, constant, resolute, strenuous, hardy; hard, severe, fierce, stern, strict; bold, brave; valid, assured; effective, producing a great effect, potent; earnest; arduous, violent”), from Proto-Germanic *strangaz (“tight, strict, straight, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *streng?- (“taut, stiff, tight”). Cognate with Scots strang (“strong”), Saterland Frisian strang, West Frisian string (“austere, strict, harsh, severe, stern, stark, tough”), Dutch streng (“strict, severe, tight”), German streng (“strict, severe, austere”), Swedish sträng, strang (“severe, strict, harsh”), Norwegian strang (“strong, harsh, bitter”), Norwegian streng (“strong, hard”), Icelandic strangur (“strict”), Latin string? (“tighten”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: str?ng, IPA^(key): /st???/, [st??????], [?t??????]
• (US) enPR: strông, IPA^(key): /st???/, [st??????], [?t??????]
• (Canada, cot–caught merger) enPR: str?ng, IPA^(key): /st???/, [st??????], [?t??????]
• Rhymes: -??

Adjective

strong (comparative stronger, superlative strongest)

1. Capable of producing great physical force.

2. Capable of withstanding great physical force.

3. (of water, wind, etc.) Having a lot of power.

4. Determined; unyielding.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp, chapter 10:

     It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

5. Highly stimulating to the senses.

6. Having an offensive or intense odor or flavor.

8. Having a high concentration of an essential or active ingredient.

10. (specifically) Having a high alcoholic content.

    She gets up, and pours herself a strong one. - Eagles, Lying Eyes

11. (grammar) Inflecting in a different manner than the one called weak, such as Germanic verbs which change vowels.

12. (chemistry) That completely ionizes into anions and cations in a solution.

13. (military) Not easily subdued or taken.

14. Having wealth or resources.

15. (slang, US) Impressive, good.

16. Having a specified number of people or units.

17. (of a disease or symptom) Severe; very bad or intense.
    • 2005, Andrew Gaeddert, Healing Immune Disorders: Natural Defense-Building Solutions, North Atlantic Books, page 221:

      Physicians may diagnosis influenza by a throat culture or blood test, which may be important if you have a particularly strong flu, if your doctor suspects pneumonia or a bacterial infection.

18. (mathematics, logic) Having a wide range of logical consequences; widely applicable. (Often contrasted with a weak statement which it implies.)
19. (of an argument) Convincing.

Synonyms

• (capable of producing great physical force): forceful, powerful, derf
• (capable of withstanding great physical force): durable, tough, sturdy
• (determined, unyielding): ardent, determined, swith, unyielding, zealous
• (highly stimulating to the senses): extreme, intense
• (having an offensive or intense odor or flavor): rank
• (having a high concentration of an essential or active ingredient): concentrated, potent
• (having a high alcoholic content): hard
• (grammar: irregular): irregular
• (military: not easily subdued or taken): impregnable, inviolable, secure, unassailable, unattackable

Antonyms

• (capable of producing great physical force): forceless, weak
• (capable of withstanding great physical force): fragile
• (having a high concentration of an essential or active ingredient): diluted, impotent, weak
• (grammar: irregular): regular, weak
• (chemistry: that completely ionizes): weak
• (military: not easily subdued or taken): weak

Hyponyms

• ultra-strong

Translations

See also

• strength

Adverb

strong (not comparable)

1. In a strong manner.

Synonyms

• (in a strong manner): forcefully, powerfully, vigorously, strongly

Antonyms

• (in a strong manner): forcelessly, powerlessly, weakly

Translations

See also

• strong as an ox
• strong personality
• strong verb

Anagrams

• trongs

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English strang, form Proto-Germanic *strangaz.

Alternative forms

• stronge, stronke, stron, strange, straunge

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /str?n?/

Adjective

strong (plural and weak singular stronge, comparative strongere, superlative strongest)

1. strong

Antonyms

• feble
• weyk

Descendants

• English: strong
• Scots: strang
• Yola: straung

References

• “strong, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old French estrange

Adjective

strong

1. Alternative form of straunge

Swedish

Etymology

Through Swedish slang, based on English strong, since 1922. There is also a form strång with a different sense since 1640.

Adjective

strong (comparative strongare, superlative strongast)

1. mentally and morally strong, courageous

Declension

Related terms

• strongt

References

• strong in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• strong in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Tok Pisin

Etymology

English strong

Adjective

strong

1. Capable of producing great physical force; strong.
2. Capable of withstanding great physical force; strong.
3. Determined, unyielding.

See also

• strongim
• strongpela

Noun

strong

1. Strength