Meaning of influence In English

• 0 the power to have an effect on people or things, or a person or thing that is able to do this:

  • Helen's a bad/good influence on him.

  • He has a huge amount of influence over the city council.

  • Christopher hoped to exert his influence to make them change their minds.

  • At the time she was under the influence of her father.

• 1 to affect or change how someone or something develops, behaves, or thinks:

  • She's very good at making friends and influencing people.

  • [ + obj + to infinitive ] What influenced you to choose a career in nursing?

• 2 to cause someone to change a behavior, belief, or opinion, or to cause something to be changed:

  • Businesses make large contributions to members of Congress, hoping to influence their votes on key issues.

  • She was influenced by the common-sense views of her grandparents.

  • That speech influenced the course of American history.

• 3 the power to have an effect on people or things, or someone or something having such power:

  • [ C ] The kid next door is a bad/good influence on Kevin.

  • [ U ] She used her influence to get her son a summer job.

• 4 the ability to have an effect on people or events:

  • exert/have/exercise (an) influence He is close enough to the President to exert influence.

  • (an) influence on sth Bloggers are expanding their influence on American politics.

  • (an) influence over sth Consumer groups act as champions and have critical influence over industry.

  • considerable/profound/growing influence He called on the industry to use its considerable influence to help resolve the situation.

• 5 a person or thing that is able to have an effect on other people or on events:

  • International influences in the form of technology, systems and capital have historically been a feature of industrialization and economic growth.

  • be an influence on sb/sth She has been a big influence on me in my career.

  • considerable/great/major influence

• 6 to affect or change how someone or something develops, behaves, or thinks:

  • Many analysts regard the state of the U.S. job market as a major factor influencing consumer confidence.

  • influence how/what/when An organization's values have been shown to influence how employees interact with each other.