Other forms: influenced, influences, influencing
Influence is the power to affect what other people think or do, without ordering them. Have influence, a bad influence, under the influence.
It is quieter than authority: influence persuades where power commands. The verb takes a direct object — influence the outcome, influenced by his teacher. Under the influence is a fixed phrase meaning affected by alcohol or drugs, and driving under the influence is the offence. Note influential, the adjective, and influencer, which since about 2015 has meant somebody with a large following who is paid to recommend things.
1nouninfluenceThe power to affect what others think or do.
“She has more influence than her job title suggests.”
2verbhappensTo affect how somebody thinks or what happens.
“The weather influenced the result more than either side did.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
influence is a power to affect.
Medieval Latin influentia meant a flowing in — an astrological term for a fluid streaming from the stars and shaping human character. Influenza is the same word: an illness blamed on the stars. The idea of something invisible flowing into you survives in every modern use.
Old French
influence
Middle English
influence
English, today
influence
From Middle English influence, from Old French influence. a doublet of influenza.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA