# influence

Pronunciation: say "IN-floo-uhns" /ˈɪn.flu.əns/

## Verb

1. To have an effect on someone or something, especially on how they think, behave, or develop, often without direct force.
   - Simple: To change what someone thinks or does, or how something happens, often in a quiet way.
   - _Her mentor influenced her decision to study medicine._
   - _Marketing campaigns influence consumer behavior in subtle ways._

## Noun

2. The power to affect how someone thinks or behaves or how something develops, or the effect this power has.
   - Simple: The power to change what people think or do, or how things happen, or the effect this has.
   - _The senator used her influence to push the bill through committee._
   - _Growing up by the sea had a lasting influence on his painting._
3. A person or thing that exerts power to affect or change someone or something.
   - Simple: A person or thing that has the power to change others.
   - _The coach remained a steadying influence throughout the season._
   - _Critics called the philosopher a major influence on modern thought._
4. A force, believed in astrology, that shapes a person's character and tendencies according to the position of the stars and planets at their birth.
   - Simple: A force from the stars and planets that some people believe shapes who you are at birth.
   - _According to her horoscope, the influence of Saturn made her cautious and reserved._
   - _Ancient astrologers traced each person's temperament to the influence of the planets at birth._

## Noun

5. A flowing in of something, such as air or fluid, into a place or body. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The act of flowing into something.

## Verb

6. To cause something to flow into another; to infuse or instill it. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make something flow into something else, or to put a quality or idea into someone or something.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Electrostatic induction: the redistribution of electric charge in a material caused by the nearness of another charged object, without direct contact.

## Origin

At its root is Latin īnfluō ("to flow into"), made of in- ("in") and fluō ("flow"); its present participle īnfluēns led to Medieval Latin īnfluentia, which reached English by way of Old French and Middle English influence (at first "an emanation from the stars affecting one's fate"). It is a doublet of influenza.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/influence (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).