- cause
- cause n 1 Cause, determinant, antecedent, reason, occasion are comparable when denoting what in whole or in part produces an effect or result.Cause is applicable to an agent (as a circumstance, condition, event, or force) that contributes to the production of an effect or to any combination (as of circumstances, conditions, or events) that inevitably or necessarily brings about a result{
one of the causes of the French Revolution was the bankruptcy of the government
}{every effect must have an adequate cause
}{what was the cause of this outbreak?
}{water and soil pollution are the root causes of mortality in the tropics— Heisery
}Cause is sometimes used of a personal agent whose activities are instrumental in bearing consequences{he is the cause of all our troubles
}or of the motive which prompts one to action{he claimed to have just cause for his attack
}A determinant is a circumstance, factor, element, quality, or motive that by itself or in combination with other factors conditions or fixes the nature of a result and especially of a product or outcome{Environment is an important determinant of character
}{the ideals and the character of citizens are the final determinants of their form of government
}{"imponderables," which in philosophy as in politics are the most important factors of experience and determinants of action— Inge
}{strength of organization, shelter from foreign or other distant competition, command of markets in key industries —these ... are the main direct determinants of wage rates— Hobson
}Antecedent is applicable to a person or thing (as an object or a circumstance, condition, or event) that is responsible, usually in part, for a later existing person or thing, most often as a progenitor, precursor, or predeter- minant{it is certainly true that these twelfth-century windows . . . had no antecedent, and no fit succession— Henry Adams
}{the antecedents of emperor-worship lay far back in history— Buchan
}{phenomena like these have other social, cultural, or superorganic phenomena as their immediate causes or antecedents— Kroeber
}Reason is interchangeable with cause when it means specifically a traceable or explainable cause; it always implies, therefore, that the effect is known or has actually been brought about{there was a reason for Mark Twain's pessimism, a reason for that chagrin .... That bitterness of his was the effect of a certain miscarriage in his creative life, a balked personality, an arrested development— Brooks
}Occasion applies to a situation or to a person, place, or event which provides such a situation that serves to set in motion causes already existing or to translate them into acts; thus, the cause of a war may be a deep-rooted enmity between two peoples, the occasion of it such a relatively unimportant incident as the murder of a citizen of one country within the confines of the other; an occasion of sin may be a visit to a place (as a saloon) where the real cause, a propensity to drink, is not resisted{a formula that has been the occasion for a considerable amount of misunderstanding— Richards
}Analogous words: *motive, spring, incentive, inducement, spur, goad, impulse: motivation, activation, actuation (see corresponding verbs at ACTIVATE): agent, agency (see MEAN): *origin, root, source, prime moverContrasted words: *effect, result, consequence, outcome, issue2 *suit, lawsuit, action, cause, case
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
