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.
Af*fect" , n. [L. affectus.]
Affection; inclination; passion; feeling; disposition. [Obs.] Shak.
Af*fect" (ăf*f&ebreve;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.
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