Efficients

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Referring to entities that produce desired effects with minimal waste or effort; describing qualities or measures indicating an optimal ratio of input to output; pertaining to agents that achieve results swiftly and economically
2. Characterizing individuals or items that accomplish tasks with the least amount of resources or time; relating to factors that maximize productivity while minimizing excess; denoting means by which goals are met effectively and with precision
3. Indicating subjects that perform operations or functions in a manner that conserves energy and materials; associated with parameters that gauge effectiveness relative to effort; signifying attributes of promptness and resourcefulness in executing tasks

Etymology: "Efficients" is simply the plural of "efficient," so it names more than one thing or person that is efficient. The adjective "efficient" entered English in 1398 with a sense that has nearly vanished: "making," as in producing or bringing something about. It came from Old French, which took it from the Latin "efficientem," the form of "efficere," meaning "work out" or "accomplish." That Latin verb is also the source of "effect," so the two words are close relatives, both rooted in the idea of bringing something to completion. The modern sense of productive, skilled work did not arrive until 1787. For nearly four centuries the word meant the causal act itself, and philosophers used it for the agent that produces an outcome, a sense that survives in "efficient cause." Only in the late eighteenth century did it shift toward describing a person or method that gets results without waste.

Synonyms: productive, effective, competent, capable, skillful

Antonyms: inefficient, ineffective, incompetent, unproductive, wasteful