Meaning & use
impacted
Last updated
“impacted” is a form of “impact”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
adjectivecomparableinformal
Strongly affected, usually badly, by an event or change.
Grammar: Often used with by: communities impacted by the storm.
Patterns
- be impacted by something
- impacted communities
Families impacted by the flood received emergency aid.
The impacted workers will be offered new jobs.
Sales were heavily impacted by the strike.
adjectivebefore a nounmedical
Firmly stuck or packed in, such as a tooth that cannot grow through the gum or hardened waste in the bowel.
Grammar: Medical use: an impacted tooth.
Patterns
- an impacted tooth
- an impacted fracture
The dentist removed his impacted wisdom tooth.
She had an impacted bowel and needed treatment.
An impacted fracture can heal slowly.
verbtransitive or intransitive
Past tense and past participle of impact: affected something strongly, or pressed something firmly together.
Grammar: Past form of impact: the news impacted sales.
Patterns
- impacted something
- impacted on something
The new tax impacted small businesses.
Rising costs impacted on our plans.
The truck impacted the wall at high speed.
Word forms
| base form | impact |
|---|---|
| third person singular | impacts |
| -ing form | impacting |
Common combinations
- impacted by
- Many tourists were impacted by the airline strike.
- directly impacted
- Residents directly impacted by the road works can claim compensation.
- severely impacted
- Crops were severely impacted by the drought.
- impacted tooth
- An impacted tooth sometimes needs surgery.
- adversely impacted
- The sales team was adversely impacted by cuts.
- impacted communities
- The charity helps impacted communities rebuild.
Synonyms and how they differ
- affected
- Affected is the standard, safer word in formal writing, while impacted is more recent and less accepted by some editors.
- hit
- Hit is informal and vivid, suggesting a sudden blow.
- influenced
- Influenced suggests gradual shaping, not a sudden strong effect.
- stuck
- Stuck is everyday language for the medical sense of something lodged in place.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: impacted or affected?
impacted vs affected
Affected is the more traditional word for influenced by; effected means brought about, so not interchangeable.
Practice
Which phrase uses 'impacted' in its medical sense?
Choose one answer.
An impacted tooth is one stuck beneath the gum. The other options use the general sense of strongly affected.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “impacted”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.