different between significant vs effective
significant
English
Etymology
From Latin significans, present participle of significare, from signum (“sign”) + ficare (“do, make”), variant of facere.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /s???n?.f?.k?nt/
- (US, also) IPA(key): /s???n?.f?.??nt/
Adjective
significant (comparative more significant, superlative most significant)
- Signifying something; carrying meaning.
- Synonym: meaningful
- It was well said of Plotinus, that the stars were significant, but not efficient.
- Having a covert or hidden meaning.
- Having a noticeable or major effect.
- Synonym: notable
- Reasonably large in number or amount.
- (statistics) Having a low probability of occurring by chance (for example, having high correlation and thus likely to be related).
Usage notes
- This word may be ambiguous in some situations. In formal writing, care should be taken with comments such as "the difference is significant," because it is not clear without contextual clues whether significant modifies the fact that there is a difference ("notable"), or the difference itself ("large in number or amount"). In some such situations, large and other synonyms may be used in its place.
Synonyms
- important
Antonyms
- insignificant
- ignorable
- negligible
- slight
Related terms
- significance
- significand
- significant other
- signify
Translations
Noun
significant (plural significants)
- That which has significance; a sign; a token; a symbol.
- a. 1850, William Wordsworth, The Egyptian Maid
- And in my glass significants there are
- a. 1850, William Wordsworth, The Egyptian Maid
References
significant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
Catalan
Verb
significant
- present participle of significar
Latin
Verb
significant
- third-person plural present active indicative of signific?
significant From the web:
- what significant mean
- what significant event happened in 1966
- what significant event happened at the battles of lexington and concord
- what significant event happened in 1848
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- what does significant mean
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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:
- what effective against fairy
- what effective mean
- what effectively ended reconstruction
- what effective is the covid vaccine
- what effective against rock
- what effective against bug
- what effective date means
- what effective against steel pokemon
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