Effective typically describes things—such as policies, treatments, arguments, and techniques—that do what they are intended to do. People can also be described as effective …

EFFECTIVE definition: 1. successful or achieving the results that you want: 2. (used about a treatment or drug) working…. Learn more.

Effective definition: adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result.. See examples of EFFECTIVE used in a sentence.

Effective and efficient are often confused, but they have slightly different meanings. If you are effective, you do a job properly; if you are efficient, you do it quickly and easily.

Definition of effective adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

Effective means having a particular role or result in practice, though not officially or in theory. They have had effective control of the area since the security forces left. The restructuring resulted …

Jun 2, 2025 · effective (comparative more effective, superlative most effective) Having the power to produce a required effect or effects. The pill is an effective method of birth control.

What does the word effective mean? There are 17 meanings listed in OED's entry for the word effective , five of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and …

The adjective effective has many shades of meaning, but you'll usually see it describing something that's able to produce a desired goal. Effective traces back to the Latin word …

EFFECTIVE meaning: 1 : producing a result that is wanted having an intended effect; 2 : in use active