Meaning & use
efficient
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Doing a job well without wasting time, money or effort.
Grammar: Describes people, methods or systems: an efficient worker, a more efficient method.
Patterns
- efficient at doing something
- an efficient way to do something
She is very efficient and finishes her reports early.
The new system is more efficient than the old one.
Trains are an efficient way to travel across the country.
adjectivecomparabletechnical
Producing a lot of output, such as power or heat, for the energy it uses.
Grammar: Common in technical or consumer contexts: energy-efficient, fuel-efficient.
Patterns
- energy-efficient
- fuel-efficient
An efficient engine uses less fuel on long trips.
These bulbs are efficient and cost little to run.
Heat pumps are efficient compared with older heaters.
Word forms
| comparative | more efficient |
|---|---|
| superlative | most efficient |
Common combinations
- highly efficient
- The kitchen is highly efficient and well planned.
- energy efficient
- We bought an energy-efficient fridge.
- cost-efficient
- This route is more cost-efficient.
- efficient use of
- Make efficient use of your time.
- efficient service
- The hotel offers quick, efficient service.
- efficient at
- He is efficient at sorting emails.
Synonyms and how they differ
- effective
- Effective means it works and achieves its goal, while efficient says it does so without waste.
- productive
- Productive stresses how much is produced, whereas efficient stresses the low cost of producing it.
- organized
- Organized is about being well planned, which often leads to efficiency but is not the same thing.
- streamlined
- Streamlined suggests a process was simplified to remove waste, while efficient is a general quality.
Opposites
Word family
- efficiency noun
- the ability to work without waste
- efficiently adverb
- in a way that wastes little
- inefficient adjective
- wasting time or resources
- inefficiency noun
- waste of time or resources
Commonly confused: efficient or effective? efficient or efficacious?
efficient vs effective
An effective method gets results, but an efficient method gets them with little waste; a slow, costly method can be effective but not efficient.
efficient vs efficacious
Efficacious is a formal word for something that produces the intended effect, mostly of medicines.
Practice
The old machine worked, but it was not very ___ because it wasted so much electricity.
Choose one answer.
Efficient is about avoiding waste. Effective would say it did its job, which the sentence already admits, and sufficient and proficient mean enough and skilled.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “efficient”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.