influences

Word family

• influence
  nounB1
• influence
  verbB1
• influential
  adjectiveB2
• influentially
  adverbC1
• influencer
  nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

'Influence', 'affect', 'shape', 'guide', and 'sway' all describe causing a change in someone or something, but they differ in register and mechanism. 'Affect' is the most neutral and direct — a storm affects flights, a joke affects your mood — and it's the only one that can describe purely physical results. 'Influence' suggests a slower, more indirect process, often involving attitudes or decisions rather than physical states. 'Shape' implies active forming over time, like a teacher shaping a student's worldview. 'Guide' adds a sense of helpful direction, as in a mentor guiding a junior colleague. 'Sway' is more emotional or rhetorical — a speaker sways a crowd with passion, not facts. For example: 'The scandal affected the company's stock price immediately' (direct financial result). 'Her professor influenced her decision to pursue research' (gradual, personal). 'The documentary shaped public opinion over several years' (long-term formation).

Common collocations

Etymology

The word 'influence' comes from Latin 'influentia' meaning 'a flowing in'. It originally referred to an invisible power that people believed flowed from the stars and controlled human destiny. By the 1500s it shifted toward the modern meaning of any indirect power that shapes people or events. The social-media-related sense of 'influencer' and 'influence' as a verb in that context became common around 2010 with the rise of Instagram and YouTube.