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to act on; produce an effect or change in:
Cold weather affected the crops.
to impress the mind or move the feelings of:
The music affected him deeply.
(of pain, disease, etc.) to attack or lay hold of.
Psychology. feeling or emotion.
Psychiatry. an expressed or observed emotional response:
Restricted, flat, or blunted affect may be a symptom of mental illness, especially schizophrenia.
Obsolete, ; passion; sensation; inclination; inward disposition or feeling.
to give the appearance of; pretend or feign:
to affect knowledge of the situation.
to assume 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 assume the character or attitude 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.
Contemporary Examples

Or into how American military action might affect the safety of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the Gulf?
Obama Needs U.S. Debate Before Making Pledges to Israel About Attacking Iran Peter Beinart August 19, 2012

But he’s proven time and again that he has a mighty megaphone that can affect the race and is not afraid to use it.
Donald Trump, Still Wacky, Rips Republicans at CPAC Lauren Ashburn March 14, 2013

We still await some other court decisions that could affect who can and cannot vote this November.
After Voter-ID Wars, What Next? A Truce Through Modernization. Lawrence Norden August 31, 2012

And I wonder how their high self-regard will affect their ability to practice medicine.
Nurse Practitioners Playing Doctor More Often Daniela Drake May 26, 2013

They said radioactive vapor that will be released will not affect human health or the environment.
Japan’s First Dark Night After the Earthquake and Tsunami Lennox Samuels March 10, 2011

Historical Examples

I prune while the tree is young; then the wound does not affect them so much; it pays, and is very necessary.
The Apple Various

They only affect the condition against which the individuals react.
Folkways William Graham Sumner

When he heard of the change he said in dismay: Will that affect my scheme?
The White Terror and The Red Abraham Cahan

I know you affect to scorn the cinema, and this was it, tremolo and all.
Coming Home Edith Wharton

But in all cases where a person’s conduct affects or255 need only affect himself, society may not interfere.
The World’s Greatest Books — Vol XX — Miscellaneous Literature and Index Various

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 associated 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 assume, 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, constituted, 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 factitious). 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 assume 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.