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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cause \Cause\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Caused}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Causing}.] [F. causer, fr. cause, fr. L. causa. See {Cause}, n., and cf. {Acouse}.] To effect as an agent; to produce; to be the occasion of; to bring about; to bring into existence; to make; -- usually followed by an infinitive, sometimes by that with a finite verb.
I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days. --Gen. vii. 4.
Cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans. --Col. iv. 16.
Syn: To create; produce; beget; effect; occasion; originate; induce; bring about.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cause \Cause\ (k[add]z), noun [F. cause, fr. L. causa. Cf. {Cause}, v., {Kickshaw}.]
1. That which produces or effects a result; that from which anything proceeds, and without which it would not exist.
Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to make one thing begin to be. --Locke.
2. That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground; reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing.
3. Sake; interest; advantage. [Obs.]
I did it not for his cause. --2 Cor. vii. 12.
4. (Law) A suit or action in court; any legal process by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he regards as his right; case; ground of action.
5. Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question; affair in general.
What counsel give you in this weighty cause! --Shak.
6. The side of a question, which is espoused, advocated, and upheld by a person or party; a principle which is advocated; that which a person or party seeks to attain.
God befriend us, as our cause is just. --Shak.
The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause. --Burke.
{Efficient cause}, the agent or force that produces a change or result.
{Final cause}, the end, design, or object, for which anything is done.
{Formal cause}, the elements of a conception which make the conception or the thing conceived to be what it is; or the idea viewed as a formative principle and co["o]perating with the matter.
{Material cause}, that of which anything is made.
{Proximate cause}. See under {Proximate}.
{To make common cause with}, to join with in purposes and aims. --Macaulay.
Syn: Origin; source; mainspring; motive; reason; incitement; inducement; purpose; object; suit; action.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cause \Cause\, verb (used without an object) To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse. [Obs.] --Spenser.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Cause \Cause\, conj. Abbreviation of {Because}. --B. Jonson.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
cause
noun
1: events that provide the generative force that is the origin of something; "they are trying to determine the cause of the crash"
2: a justification for something existing or happening; "he had no cause to complain"; "they had good reason to rejoice" [syn: {reason}, {grounds}]
3: a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end; "he supported populist campaigns"; "they worked in the cause of world peace"; "the team was ready for a drive toward the pennant"; "the movement to end slavery"; "contributed to the war effort" [syn: {campaign}, {crusade}, {drive}, {movement}, {effort}]
4: any entity that causes events to happen [syn: {causal agent}, {causal agency}]
5: a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy; "the family brought suit against the landlord" [syn: {lawsuit}, {suit}, {case}, {causa}]
verb
1: give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally; "cause a commotion"; "make a stir"; "cause an accident" [syn: {do}, {make}]
2: cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner; "The ads induced me to buy a VCR"; "My children finally got me to buy a computer"; "My wife made me buy a new sofa" [syn: {induce}, {stimulate}, {have}, {get}, {make}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
161 Moby Thesaurus words for "cause": accomplish, achieve, act, action, activity, agency, agent, ambition, antecedent, aspiration, author, basis, be productive, bear, beget, belief, bind, breed, bring about, bring forth, bring into being, bring on, bring to effect, bring to fruition, bring to pass, call, call forth, call up, calling, campaign, case, cause in court, cause to, commitment, compel, conceive, concern, consideration, constrain, create, creator, crusade, determinant, do, draw on, drive, effect, effectuate, elicit, enforce, engender, engineer, establish, evoke, execute, faith, father, force, found, foundation, generate, generator, genesis, gestate, get up, give birth to, give occasion to, give origin to, give rise to, goad, goal, good reason, great cause, ground, grounds, guiding light, guiding star, hatch, have, ideal, impel, impulse, inaugurate, incentive, induce, inducement, industrialize, inspiration, inspire, institute, intention, interest, issue, judicial process, justification, lawsuit, lead to, legal action, legal case, legal proceedings, legal process, legal remedy, lifework, litigation, lodestar, mainspring, make, mass movement, mass-produce, material basis, matter, motivate, motive, movement, muster up, necessity, obligation, occasion, origin, originate, originator, overproduce, perform, precipitate, prime mover, principle, proceedings, produce, producer, promote, prompt, prosecution, provoke, realize, reason, reason for being, restrain, right, root, sake, score, secure, set afloat, set on foot, set up, sire, source, spring, substance, suit, suit at law, summon up, tie, ulterior motive, undertaking, use force upon, vocation, volume-produce, warrant, work, work up
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |