efficient

English Online Dictionary. What means efficient‎? What does efficient mean?

English

Etymology

1398, “making,” from Old French, from Latin efficientem, nominative efficiēns, participle of efficere (“work out, accomplish”) (see effect). Meaning “productive, skilled” is from 1787. Efficiency apartment is first recorded 1930, American English.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈfɪʃənt/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, /əˈfɪʃənt/
• Rhymes: -ɪʃənt

Adjective

efficient (comparative more efficient, superlative most efficient)

1. making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy
2. expressing the proportion of consumed energy that was successfully used in a process; the ratio of useful output to total input

3. causing effects, producing results; bringing into being; initiating change (rare except in philosophical and legal expression efficient cause = causative factor or agent)
4. (proscribed, old use) effective, efficacious

Usage notes

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary from 1913 still lists efficient and effective as synonyms, but all major dictionaries now show that these words now only have different meanings in careful use. Use of both for the other meaning is however widespread enough that Longman's Exam Dictionary, for example, finds it necessary to proscribe the use of one for the other with several examples at each entry and provides the following summary:

• efficient (“working quickly and without waste”)
• effective (“having the desired effect”)

Antonyms

• inefficient

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

efficient (plural efficients)

1. (obsolete) a cause; something that causes an effect

Derived terms

• Pareto efficient

References

Danish

Adjective

efficient

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {}.

Inflection

Further reading

• “efficient” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin efficientem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fi.sjɑ̃/
• Homophone: efficients

Adjective

efficient (feminine efficiente, masculine plural efficients, feminine plural efficientes)

1. efficient
2. effective

Related terms

• efficience

Further reading

• “efficient”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /efˈfi.ki.ent/, [ɛfˈfɪkiɛn̪t̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /efˈfi.t͡ʃi.ent/, [efˈfiːt͡ʃien̪t̪]

Verb

efficient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of efficiō