influence
The power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions.
Example
“I have absolutely no influence over him.”
Other meanings
An action exerted by a person or thing with such power on another to cause change.
“I'm not able to exercise influence over him.”
A person or thing exerting such power or action.
“He has been a great influence on the voters during the elections.”
Related words
- coinfluence
- counterinfluence
- influenceless
- kidfluence
- malinfluence
- misinfluence
- noninfluence
- thinkfluence
- influencer
- area of influence
- bad influence
- influence peddling
Example sentences
Word history
From Latin "īnfluēns" (flowing in).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “influence” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.