Meaning & use
efficiency
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Meanings
noununcountable
Doing something well while wasting little time, effort or money.
Grammar: Uncountable: improve efficiency.
Patterns
- efficiency in something
- the efficiency of something
The new software improved office efficiency.
She admired the efficiency of the kitchen team.
Efficiency matters when time is short.
nouncountable or uncountabletechnicalphysics
The share of input energy that a machine turns into useful output.
Grammar: Often a percentage.
Patterns
- energy efficiency
- efficiency of something
The engine has an efficiency of forty percent.
LED lights have higher energy efficiency.
Engineers measured the efficiency of the solar panel.
nouncountableAmerican
A small apartment with a kitchen area.
Grammar: American usage: an efficiency.
He rented an efficiency near campus.
The efficiency had a tiny stove.
They lived in an efficiency for a year.
Word forms
| plural | efficiencies |
|---|
Common combinations
- improve efficiency
- We changed the layout to improve efficiency.
- energy efficiency
- The house has good energy efficiency.
- maximize efficiency
- Managers want to maximize efficiency.
- gain efficiency
- The factory gained efficiency by automation.
- fuel efficiency
- Hybrid cars have strong fuel efficiency.
- with efficiency
- She worked with great efficiency.
Synonyms and how they differ
- productivity
- Productivity measures output, while efficiency measures how little is wasted.
- effectiveness
- Effectiveness is about achieving the goal, while efficiency is about how few resources it takes.
- economy
- Economy stresses saving money or resources.
- competence
- Competence is skill, not saving effort.
Opposites
Word family
- efficient adjective
- working well with little waste
- efficiently adverb
- in a way that wastes little
- inefficient adjective
- wasteful
- inefficiency noun
- the state of wasting resources
Commonly confused: efficiency or effectiveness?
efficiency vs effectiveness
Effectiveness means producing the intended result; efficiency means doing so with little waste.
Practice
A process uses fewer hours and less money to produce the same result. It has greater ___.
Choose one answer.
Efficiency means achieving results with less waste. The others are different words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “efficiency”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.