impacting

Impacting is the present participle and gerund of the verb impact. It can refer to the act of one object striking another, as in a collision, or more broadly to the act of having a strong effect or influence on something. In physical contexts, impacting describes events where objects collide, such as spacecraft or meteorites impacting a surface. In figurative usage, it describes how actions, policies, or conditions affect people, systems, or environments.

Usage notes often differentiate between the literal and figurative senses. In scientific and technical writing, impacting is commonly used to denote a physical collision. In policy, business, or social discourse, it describes effects on outcomes or stakeholders, for example, measures impacting groundwater quality or programs impacting community health. Some style guides favor verbs like affect or influence for the verbal sense and view impact as a noun; others accept impact as a verb and, by extension, impacting as the progressive form. The choice between impacting and alternatives can depend on the desired emphasis: a concrete event (the collision) or a causal influence (the effect on a system).

Etymology traces impacting to the verb impact, which comes from Latin impingere, meaning to strike upon. The noun impact appeared in English in the early 17th century, with the verb sense following in the 19th century. Today, impacting remains common in both scientific and everyday language, though clarity may guide its use to avoid ambiguity with related terms like effect and influence. See also impact (disambiguation).