Talk:effective

What about something that works well? It is 'effective'. Is it effective in what it does or effective at what it does?

Because of phrases such as "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "it's super effective" from Pokemon, I was under the impression that effective meant "producing the expected or intended effect rapidly or to a large extent." However, no dictionary that I have consulted had the "rapidly or to a large extent" part. Moreover, I have seen some articles describing how something can be effective but not efficient (meaning it gets the job done, but not in the fastest or most resource-efficient way).

Does the definition found in most dictionaries, of "having the power to produce a required effect or effects," allow for something being more or less effective, or being "super effective," or can it only be effective or not? Do phrases like "super effective" imply a different and additional sense to the word?

For comparison, "effectiveness" has as one of its senses "the degree to which something achieves results", separate from "The capacity or potential for achieving results".

I am resigning effective immediately from my position in CSAIL at MIT --Backinstadiums (talk) 08:23, 17 September 2019 (UTC)Reply

That's not an adverb: it means the resignation is effective (adj) immediately (adv). It doesn't mean "I am resigning effectively". Equinox ◑ 10:17, 17 September 2019 (UTC)Reply

Effective immediately, employees will no longer be able to. Backinstadiums (talk) 23:35, 8 February 2023 (UTC)Reply

• actual, (figuratively, unofficial) ontological (Robert Spekkens of Perimeter Institute but also Caltech's Sean M. Carroll)