In an Internet article on careers: Companies need people who can make their sites easy to navigate and visually impactful…. Impactful is a new non-word (meaning, of course, that it is not a word) that people, especially in the media, like to say because they think that it makes what they’re saying sound more important. I guess words such as effective, compelling, impressive, and forceful just don’t do it for anyone these days. I found impactful in a popular on-line dictionary, which, for many people, gives its use credibility; however, finding a usage in a modern on-line dictionary–or any dictionary for that matter (see co-blogger Paul Yeager’s What Does the Word Dictionary Mean)–does not make a word legitimate. Let me be succinct: Impactful is not a word–and someone should alert the media.

Sherry

Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever and Sherry’s Grammar List