EFFICACIOUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does efficacious mean? 

• EFFICACIOUS (adjective)
  The adjective EFFICACIOUS has 2 senses:

1. marked by qualities giving the power to produce an intended effect

2. producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect

  Familiarity information: EFFICACIOUS used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EFFICACIOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by qualities giving the power to produce an intended effect

Context example:

the medicine is efficacious in stopping a cough

Similar:

effective (works well as a means or remedy)

Also:

effective; effectual; efficacious (producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect)

Attribute:

efficaciousness; efficacy (capacity or power to produce a desired effect)

Antonym:

inefficacious (lacking the power to produce a desired effect)

Derivation:

efficaciousness; efficacy (capacity or power to produce a desired effect)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Producing or capable of producing an intended result or having a striking effect

Synonyms:

effective; effectual; efficacious

Context example:

an efficacious law

Similar:

hard-hitting; trenchant (characterized by or full of force and vigor)

impelling (markedly effective as if by emotional pressure)

impressive; telling (producing a strong effect)

rough-and-ready (crude but effective for the purpose at hand)

Also:

efficacious (marked by qualities giving the power to produce an intended effect)

efficient (being effective without wasting time or effort or expense)

potent; stiff; strong (having a strong physiological or chemical effect)

powerful (having great power or force or potency or effect)

useful; utile (being of use or service)

Attribute:

effectiveness; effectivity; effectuality; effectualness (power to be effective; the quality of being able to bring about an effect)

Derivation:

efficaciousness; efficacy (capacity or power to produce a desired effect)

 Context examples 

Multi-antigen vaccine therapy may be more efficacious than single-antigen therapy vaccine therapy.

(MVA-EBNA1/LMP2 Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

By specifically targeting class I PI3K alpha, this agent may be more efficacious and less toxic than pan PI3K inhibitors.

(PI3K alpha Inhibitor INK1117, NCI Thesaurus)

By specifically targeting class I PI3K alpha and beta, this agent may be more efficacious and less toxic than pan PI3K inhibitors.

(PI3K Alpha/Beta Inhibitor BAY1082439, NCI Thesaurus)

By specifically targeting class I PI3K beta, this agent may be more efficacious and less toxic than pan PI3K inhibitors.

(PI3Kbeta Inhibitor AZD8186, NCI Thesaurus)

L-Selenomethionine is considered a safe, efficacious form of selenium and is readily bioavailable.

(L-Selenomethionine, NCI Thesaurus)

In addition to supporting the idea that cancer therapies targeting specific molecular targets should be efficacious with fewer side effects, Gleevec has also demonstrated that drugs inhibiting protein kinases can be developed successfully.

(Inhibition of Cellular Proliferation by Gleevec Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Resistance to nearly all known drugs, particularly the most efficacious or non-first line drugs, used in the treatment of a particular disease.

(Extensively Drug Resistance Process, NCI Thesaurus)

Accordingly, this agent may be more efficacious and less susceptible to drug resistance than other alkylators.

(Bendamustine hydrochloride, NCI Thesaurus)

I fancy that he had taken steps to make that draught efficacious, and that he quite relied upon your being unconscious.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The same pressures and caresses, unaccompanied by speech, that were efficacious with the girls of the working-class, were equally efficacious with the girls above the working- class.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)