impactful

[ im-pakt-fuhl ]

adjective

1. having or manifesting a great impact or effect:

   After the senator's impactful speech, her bill passed.

impactful

/ ˈɪmpæktfʊl /

adjective

1. having a powerful effect or making a strong impression

   a thoughtful and impactful display of contemporary art

Usage Note

Impactful is one of those words that somehow arouse intense disdain, especially among editors and other would-be guardians of English. According to its critics, the word exemplifies “bad, ugly usage.” They call it “barbarous,” dismiss it as “a meaningless buzzword,” and hate it so much that they extend their contempt of the word to contempt for its users. Some justify their scorn by saying that the word lacks the original meaning of the suffix -ful —“full of”— as in remorseful or wrathful. But impactful, when it entered English in the mid-1960s, was formed and construed in the same way as other well-established adjectives ending in -ful. In fact, as the Oxford English Dictionary points out, the “full of” sense is considerably weakened in a large number of these -ful adjectives. Instead, the suffix is interpreted as “having” or “characterized by,” as in beautiful, lawful, or graceful. In other common adjectives, -ful can even be glossed as “causing feelings of,” as in wonderful and dreadful . Both of these senses of -ful work perfectly well with the noun impact. The aversion to impactful is reinforced by the distaste some people have for its root impact, especially when that word is used as a verb. (See usage note at impact ). But if impactful is indeed derived from the verb rather than the noun—which is not a certainty—there is nothing ungrammatical about that. When added to a verb, -ful has the meaning “apt to” or “able to,” as in mournful, wakeful, forgetful, and worshipful. Impactful may eventually settle into the language in similar fashion. In sum, impactful entered English as a normal part of language growth and change, and there is no legitimate linguistic reason to reject it. Although there are alternative words available, English welcomes synonymy. And although the negative reactions to impactful may well be further encouraged by a sense that it is commonly found in so-called business-speak or other jargon-filled contexts, in truth the word, from its beginnings, has also been recorded in reputable newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and books. Nevertheless, the very fact that so many people have passionate, unyielding objections to impactful makes it advisable to think twice before using it in contexts where it might not be accepted. Perhaps its variant impactive, with exactly the same meaning, is less likely to raise hackles. However, the “-ive” form appears in print only about one-fourth as often as the controversial impactful.

Word History and Origins

Origin of impactful¹

First recorded in 1960-65; impact + -ful

Example Sentences

Transformers, My Little Pony and Phase 10 are considered some of the most impactful and memorable toys of all time.

From Salon

Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science.

From Los Angeles Times

By leveraging tax incentives like capital gain offsets to eliminate taxes on donations, crypto giving is as financially smart as it is impactful.

From Salon

"The work that he does when the cameras are turned off have often been the most impactful," he wrote.

From BBC

“Everybody is looking at the November election in terms of the presidency, but I think for Angelenos, the most immediate and impactful change would be the change in the D.A. It’s an even greater threat to the Black community, I would say, than Donald Trump,” said Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• impressive
• poignant
• stunning