Definition

1. Noun:
   • Skillfulness in avoiding wasted time and effort; the quality of doing something well with no waste of resources. This meaning focuses on the manner or quality of performing a task.
   • The ratio of the useful output to the total input of a system or process. This is a technical, often scientific or economic, measurement of performance.

Usage and Examples

• Referring to skillfulness and lack of waste:
  • She managed the project with impressive efficiency, completing it ahead of schedule and under budget.
  • The new software improved the efficiency of our data entry process.
• Referring to a measurable ratio (output/input):
  • The engine's fuel efficiency has been significantly improved in the latest model.
  • We need to calculate the thermal efficiency of the power plant.

Advanced Usage

• "Pareto efficiency" (or Pareto optimality): An economic state where resources cannot be reallocated to make one individual better off without making at least one individual worse off.
  • The proposed policy aims to achieve a Pareto efficiency in resource distribution.
• "Energy efficiency": The goal of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services.
  • Government grants are available for home improvements that increase energy efficiency.

Variants and Related Words

• Efficient (adjective): Performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort.
  • An efficient worker.
• Efficiently (adverb): In an efficient manner.
  • The team worked efficiently.
• Inefficiency (noun): The state of not achieving maximum productivity; waste of time or resources.
  • Bureaucratic inefficiency can delay projects.

Synonyms

• Effectiveness: The degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result. (Note: "Effectiveness" is about achieving goals, while "efficiency" is about achieving them with minimal waste.)
• Productivity: The effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.
• Competence: The ability to do something successfully or efficiently.

Antonyms

• Inefficiency: The state of being inefficient.
• Wastefulness: The tendency to use or expend resources carelessly or extravagantly.

Common Collocations and Phrases

• Improve/increase efficiency: To make a process or system work better with less waste.
  • The new software will improve efficiency.
• Operational efficiency: The capability of an enterprise to deliver products or services to its customers in the most cost-effective manner.
  • The company's focus is on maximizing operational efficiency.
• Cost efficiency: The ability to accomplish a task with minimal expenditure of money.
  • Outsourcing was chosen for its cost efficiency.

Noun

1. skillfulness in avoiding wasted time and effort
   • she did the work with great efficiency
2. the ratio of the output to the input of any system