efficient

== 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/ (Indic) IPA(key): /ᵻˈfiʃɪəɳʈ/ Rhymes: -ɪʃənt === Adjective === efficient (comparative more efficient, superlative most efficient) Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy. Expressing the proportion of consumed energy that was successfully used in a process; the ratio of useful output to total input. Causing effects, producing results; bringing into being; initiating change (rare except in philosophical and legal expression efficient cause = causative factor or agent). (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) (obsolete) A cause; something that causes an effect. ==== Derived terms ==== Pareto efficient === References === == Danish == === Etymology === From Latin efficientia. === Adjective === efficient (plural and definite singular attributive efficiente) efficient, effective (with regards to economics) ==== 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) efficient 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): [ɛfˈfɪ.ki.ɛnt] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [efˈfiː.t͡ʃi.ent] === Verb === efficient third-person plural future active indicative of efficiō