Search results for 'influence':

influence noun 1 (especially influence on or over someone or something) the power that one person or thing has to affect another. 2 a person or thing that has such a power • be a good influence on him. 3 power resulting from political or social position, wealth, ability, standards of behaviour, etc • a man of some influence • Couldn't you use your influence to get me a ticket? verb (influenced, influencing) 1 to have an effect, especially an indirect or unnoticed one, on (a person or their work, or events, etc) • Rock and roll influenced his music greatly. 2 to exert influence on someone or something; to persuade • Her encouraging letter influenced me to stay. under the influence colloq affected by alcohol; drunk.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c in an astrological sense, referring to a substance thought to flow out from the stars and exert power over human destinies, etc: French, from Latin influere to flow into.