take effect

to start working The medicine takes effect in less than a half hour. New voter registration laws took effect last year.

1. To become operative, as under law or regulation: The curfew takes effect at midnight.

2. To produce the desired reaction: The antibiotics at last began to take effect.

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Almast	-	Armenian
Nerio	-	Italian
Naphtali	NAF-tə-lie (English)	Biblical
Haroldo	ah-ROL-do (Spanish), ə-RAWL-doo (Portuguese)	Spanish, Portuguese
CÉSar	THE-sahr (Spanish), SE-sahr (Latin American Spanish)	French, Spanish, Portuguese
Selena	[si'linə]