impact

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Contents

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin impāctus, perfect passive participle of impingō (dash against, impinge).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

impact (plural impacts)

  1. The force or energy of a collision of two objects.
    The hatchet cut the wood on impact.
  2. (chiefly medicine) A forced impinging.
    His spine had an impingement; L4 and L5 made impact, which caused numbness in his leg.
  3. A significant or strong influence; an effect.
    His friend's opinion had an impact on his decision.
    Our choice of concrete will have a tremendous impact on the building's mechanical performance.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Adjectives often applied to "impact": social, political, physical, positive, negative, good, bad, beneficial, harmful, significant, great, important, strong, big, small, real, huge, likely, actual, potential, devastating, disastrous, true, primary.
  • The adposition generally used with "impact" is "on" (such as in last example in section above)

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Verb[edit]

impact (third-person singular simple present impacts, present participle impacting, simple past and past participle impacted)

  1. (transitive) To compress; to compact; to press or pack together.
    If fecal incontinence is caused by impacted stool in the rectum, the impaction must be removed.
  2. (transitive, proscribed) To influence; to affect; to have an impact on.
    I can make the changes, but it will impact the schedule.
  3. (transitive) To collide or strike.
    When the hammer impacts the nail, it bends.

Usage notes[edit]

Some authorities object to the use of impact to mean "to influence; to affect; to have an impact on" or to mean "to collide or strike". Such usage seems to be an adaptation of the colloquial noun form of impact to use as a verb.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]


French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin, see above.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA: /ɛ̃.pakt/

Noun[edit]

impact m (plural impacts)

  1. (literally or figuratively) impact