Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Affect \Af*fect"\ ([a^]f*f[e^]kt"), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Affected}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Affecting}.] [L. affectus, p. p.
of afficere to affect by active agency; ad + facere to make:
cf. F. affectere, L. affectare, freq. of afficere. See
{Fact}.]
1. To act upon; to produce an effect or change upon.
As might affect the earth with cold heat. --Milton.
The climate affected their health and spirits.
--Macaulay.
2. To influence or move, as the feelings or passions; to
touch.
A consideration of the rationale of our passions
seems to me very necessary for all who would affect
them upon solid and pure principles. --Burke.
3. To love; to regard with affection. [Obs.]
As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected than
affected, rather honored than loved, her. --Fuller.
4. To show a fondness for; to like to use or practice; to
choose; hence, to frequent habitually.
For he does neither affect company, nor is he fit
for it, indeed. --Shak.
Do not affect the society of your inferiors in rank,
nor court that of the great. --Hazlitt.
5. To dispose or incline.
Men whom they thought best affected to religion and
their country's liberty. --Milton.
6. To aim at; to aspire; to covet. [Obs.]
This proud man affects imperial ?way. --Dryden.
7. To tend to by affinity or disposition.
The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.
--Newton.
8. To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to
assume; as, to affect ignorance.
Careless she is with artful care, Affecting to seem
unaffected. --Congreve.
Thou dost affect my manners. --Shak.
9. To assign; to appoint. [R.]
One of the domestics was affected to his special
service. --Thackeray.
Syn: To influence; operate; act on; concern; move; melt;
soften; subdue; overcome; pretend; assume.
Affect \Af*fect"\, n. [L. affectus.]
Affection; inclination; passion; feeling; disposition. [Obs.]
--Shak.
Affect \Af*fect"\, n. (Psychotherapy)
The emotional complex associated with an idea or mental
state. In hysteria, the affect is sometimes entirely
dissociated, sometimes transferred to another than the
original idea.
Source : WordNet®
affect
n : the conscious subjective aspect of feeling or emotion
v 1: have an effect upon; "Will the new rules affect me?" [syn: {impact},
{bear upon}, {bear on}, {touch on}, {touch}]
2: act physically on; have an effect upon
3: connect closely and often incriminatingly; "This new ruling
affects your business" [syn: {involve}, {regard}]
4: make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he
was ill"; "He shammed a headache" [syn: {feign}, {sham}, {pretend},
{dissemble}]
5: have an emotional or cognitive impact upon; "This child
impressed me as unusually mature"; "This behavior struck
me as odd" [syn: {impress}, {move}, {strike}]