Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Efficient

Ef·fi′cient (-ent), a. [L. efficiens, -entis, p. pr. of efficere to effect: cf. F. efficient. See Effect, n.] Causing effects; producing results; that makes the effect to be what it is; actively operative; not inactive, slack, or incapable; characterized by energetic and useful activity; as, an efficient officer, power.

The efficient cause is the working cause. Wilson.

Syn. — Effective; effectual; competent; able; capable; material; potent.

Ef·fi′cient, n. An efficient cause; a prime mover.

God . . . moveth mere natural agents as an efficient only. Hooker.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.