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to give the appearance of; pretend or feign:
to affect knowledge of the situation.
to -ssume artificially, pretentiously, or for effect:
to affect a southern accent.
to use, wear, or adopt by preference; choose; prefer:
the peculiar costume he affected.
to -ssume the character or att-tude of:
to affect the freethinker.
(of things) to tend toward habitually or naturally:
a substance that affects colloidal form.
(of animals and plants) to occupy or inhabit; live in or on:
lions affect africa. moss affects the northern slopes.
archaic.

to have for; fancy.
to aim at; aspire to.

obsolete. to incline, tend, or favor (usually followed by to):
he affects to the old ways.
verb (transitive) (əˈfɛkt)
to act upon or influence, esp in an adverse way: damp affected the sparking plugs
to move or disturb emotionally or mentally: her death affected him greatly
(of pain, disease, etc) to attack
noun (ˈæfɛkt; əˈfɛkt)
(psychol) the emotion -ssociated with an idea or set of ideas see also affection
verb (mainly transitive)
to put on an appearance or show of; make a pretence of: to affect ignorance
to imitate or -ssume, esp pretentiously: to affect an accent
to have or use by preference: she always affects funereal clothing
to adopt the character, manner, etc, of: he was always affecting the politician
(of plants or animals) to live or grow in: penguins affect an arctic climate
to incline naturally or habitually towards: falling drops of liquid affect roundness
n.

late 14c., “mental state,” from latin noun use of affectus “furnished, supplied, endowed,” figuratively “disposed, const-tuted, inclined,” past participle of afficere “to do; treat, use, manage, handle; act on; have influence on, do something to,” a verb of broad meaning, from ad- “to” (see ad-) + facere (past participle factus) “do” (see fact-tious). perhaps obsolete except in psychology. related: affects.
v.

“to make an impression on,” 1630s; earlier “to attack” (c.1600), “act upon, infect” (early 15c.), from affect (n.). related: affected; affecting.

“to make a pretense of,” 1660s, earlier “to -ssume the character of (someone)” (1590s); originally in english “to aim at, aspire to, desire” (early 15c.), from middle french affecter (15c.), from latin affectare “to strive after, aim at,” frequentative of afficere (past participle affectus) “to do something to, act on” (see affect (n.)). related: affected; affecting.

affect af·fect (ə-fěkt’)
v. af·fect·ed, af·fect·ing, af·fects

to have an influence on or affect a change in.

to attack or infect, as a disease.

n. (āf’ěkt’)

a feeling or emotion as distinguished from thought, or action.

a strong feeling with active consequences.