Most of the Panelists still disapprove of the intransitive use of the verb meaning 'to have an effect': in our 2015 survey, 78 percent of the Panel (down only slightly from 85 percent in 2001) rejected These policies are impacting on our ability to achieve success. Many people dislike it because they assume it was converted from the noun in the manner of voguish and bureaucratic words like dialogue and interface, but in fact impact was a verb long before it was a noun-the verb dates from the early 1600s, the noun from the late 1700s. (A similar sentence was accepted by 93 percent of the Panel in 2001.) The verb is a different matter. Complaints that the noun was a pointless hyperbole and a vogue word turned out to be short-lived, and this usage is now is standard: in our 2015 survey, 97 percent of the Usage Panel accepted The program might have a positive impact on our nation's youth. Usage Note: Impact in the figurative sense of 'a dramatic effect' came under criticism in the 1960s, both as a noun and verb.

To have an effect on someone synonym