influenced

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of influence.

   Early blues records deeply influenced his songwriting.

   Public opinion was heavily influenced by the campaign ads.

   Note

   A regular -ed form doing double duty: one spelling covers the simple past (the records influenced him) and the participle after have or be (she has influenced; he was influenced). Usually it takes a direct object, but it can also stand alone, meaning simply to use one's sway. An older meaning, to pour or instill something into, has fallen out of use.

2. 2
   adjective

   Affected or shaped by some outside person or thing, beyond one's own control.

   Teenagers are particularly influenced by the opinions of their peers.

   The heavily influenced young painter copied his mentor's every brushstroke.

   Similaraffected, swayed, shaped

   Oppositeunaffected, independent

   Note

   Here the participle has settled into an adjective, and the sign is that it takes degrees: more influenced, most influenced, deeply or heavily influenced. That gives a practical test for telling it from the plain past participle: if more, most or particularly fits in front, the adjective is at work. It usually names the outside force with by, as in influenced by peers or by a mentor.

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