I. ˈkȯz noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin causa; perhaps akin to Latin cudere to beat — more at hew
1.
a. : a person, thing, fact, or condition that brings about an effect or that produces or calls forth a resultant action or state
it should be obvious that it is the conditions producing the end effects which must be regarded as the efficient causes of them — M.F.A.Montagu
trying to find the cause of the accident
b. : a reason or motive for an action or condition
a cause for celebrating
cause for regret
c. : a good or adequate reason : a sufficient activating factor
an employee discharged for cause
2.
a.
(1) : a ground of legal action
(2) : a legal process (as a suit or action in court) by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim or what he regards as his right : case
b. : the presupposition or underlying fact of a transaction in civil law
3.
a. : something that occasions or effects a result : the necessary antecedent of an effect : something that determines any motion or change or produces a phenomenon — see efficient cause , final cause , formal cause , material cause ; first cause ; immanent cause , transient cause ; occasional cause
b. : an event or set of events that on the basis of scientific methods and laws has been established as the invariant antecedent or concomitant necessary for the occurrence of another event or set of events — compare : regularity theory
4. : a charge or accusation brought against one
what was thy cause ? adultery? — Shakespeare
5.
a. now dialect : a matter occupying one's attention : concern , affair , pursuit
now to our French causes — Shakespeare
b. obsolete : intent , purpose , end — see final cause
6. : a principle or movement supported militantly or zealously : a belief advocated or upheld
God befriend us, as our cause is just — Shakespeare
the insurgents' cause
he served the cause of truth less devotedly than the cause of party — V.L.Parrington
7. obsolete : disease
Synonyms:
reason , determinant , occasion , antecedent : cause indicates a condition or circumstance or combination of conditions and circumstances that effectively and inevitably calls forth an issue, effect, or result or that materially aids in that calling forth
there was more in it than a struggle for wages. The unrest in the towns had deeper causes — G.M.Trevelyan
reason is often interchangeable with cause , but it may add to cause notions of that which explains, clarifies, or justifies or that which suggests a conditioning by human action, consideration, or thought
they admire the rich and titled for the good reason that the rich and titled are themselves — Aldous Huxley
the reason why the distinguished chairman of the committee feels that the conference report should not be debated — Congressional Record
determinant indicates that factor which determines or shapes the nature of an outcome, issue, or result rather than indicating that which calls it forth or causes it
so habituated have most persons become to believing … that moral forces are the ultimate determinants of the rise and fall of all human societies — John Dewey
asserts that the final determinant of the lawyer's thought and activity is now the maxim of the best fee — R.D.Mack
occasion refers to a time or situation at which underlying causes may be manifested or activated or, loosely, to an immediate or ostensible factor
in 1837 Baxley became the occasion, if not the cause, of the temporary disruption of the University of Maryland Medical School — C.R.Bardeen
there exists, not as the occasion of this war but as the cause of a series of wars in which we are engaged, a desire, shared by all peoples, to redefine the concepts of freedom and order — Times Literary Supplement
antecedent refers to that which has preceded or gone before or which may or may not be a cause or determinant of something following
it is certainly true that these twelfth-century windows break the French tradition. They had no antecedent and no fit succession — Henry Adams
the antecedents of emperor worship lay far back in history — John Buchan
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English causen, probably from cause, n.
1. : to serve as cause or occasion of : bring into existence : make
careless driving causes accidents
trying to find what caused the fire
cause the water to flow into the new channel
2. : to effect by command, authority, or force
the president caused the ambassador to protest