Affecters

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The individuals or factors that produce a change in someone or something
2. The elements or conditions that influence emotions, behaviors, or situations significantly
3. The agents or contributors that evoke a response or modification in a particular context

Etymology: "Affecters" is the plural of "affecter," a noun formed in English from the verb "affect" and the suffix "-er," which marks a person or thing that performs an action. The verb itself came into English through Middle French "affecter" and Anglo-Norman, ultimately from Latin "affectāre," a frequentative of "afficere," meaning to act upon or influence, built from "ad-" ("to") and "facere" ("to do" or "make"). The Latin idea is literally of doing something to someone, which is why the English verb can mean to act on something, or to produce a change in it. The noun is the more recent, and more abstract, step. Where the verb describes an act of influencing, "affecter" names the thing doing the influencing, so the plural names the various forces or conditions at work in a situation. The English "affect" carried a bodily and emotional sense from the start, so a list of affecters is, in effect, a list of what moves people or changes outcomes.

Synonyms: influencers, impacters, alterers

Antonyms: unaffected, neutral parties