Cause

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Cause, n. [F. cause, fr. L. causa. Cf. Cause, v., Kickshaw.].

•  That which produces or effects a result; that from which anything proceeds, and without which it would not exist.  [1913 Webster]

  "Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to make one thing begin to be."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground; reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing.  [1913 Webster]
•  Sake; interest; advantage.  [1913 Webster]

  "I did it not for his cause."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question; affair in general.  [1913 Webster]

  "What counsel give you in this weighty cause!"  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "God befriend us, as our cause is just."  [1913 Webster]

  "The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause."  [1913 Webster]

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 coöperating 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.

Cause, v. t. [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.  [1913 Webster]
"I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days."  [1913 Webster]
"Cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans."

Syn. -- To create; produce; beget; effect; occasion; originate; induce; bring about.

Cause, v. i. 

 To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

Cause, conj. 

 Abbreviation of Because.  B. Jonson.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Cause, n. & v.
--n.
1 a that which produces an effect, or gives rise to an action, phenomenon, or condition. b a person or thing that occasions something. c a reason or motive; a ground that may be held to justify something (no cause for complaint).
2 a reason adjudged adequate (show cause).
3 a principle, belief, or purpose which is advocated or supported (faithful to the cause).
4 a a matter to be settled at law. b an individual's case offered at law (plead a cause).
5 the side taken by any party in a dispute.
--v.tr.
1 be the cause of, produce, make happen (caused a commotion).
2 (foll. by to + infin.) induce (caused me to smile; caused it to be done).

Idiom

in the cause of to maintain, defend, or support (in the cause of justice). make common cause with join the side of.

Derivative

causable adj. causeless adj. causer n.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L causa

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

Cause

Cause

N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

VB be the cause of, originate, give origin to, give rise, to, give occasion to, cause, occasion, sow the seeds of, kindle, suscitate, bring on, bring to bring pass, bring about, produce, create, set up, set afloat, set on foot, found, broach, institute, lay the foundation of, lie at the root of, procure, induce, draw down, open the door to, superinduce, evoke, entail, operate, elicit, provoke, conduce to, contribute, have a hand in the pie, have a finger in the pie, determine, decide, turn the scale, have a common origin, derive its origin.

Production

VB produce, perform, operate, do, make, gar, form, construct, fabricate, frame, contrive, manufacture, weave, forge, coin, carve, chisel, build, raise, edify, rear, erect, put together, set up, run up, establish, constitute, compose, organize, institute, achieve, accomplish, flower, bear fruit, fructify, teem, ean, yean, farrow, drop, pup, kitten, kindle, bear, lay, whelp, bring forth, give birth to, lie in, be brought to bed of, evolve, pullulate, usher into the world, make productive, create, beget, get, generate, fecundate, impregnate, procreate, progenerate, propagate, engender, bring into being, call into being, bring into existence, breed, hatch, develop, bring up, induce, superinduce, suscitate, cause, acquire.

Lawsuit

N lawsuit, suit, action, cause, litigation, suit in law, dispute, citation, arraignment, prosecution, impeachment, accusation, presentment, true bill, indictment, apprehension, arrest, committal, imprisonment, writ, summons, subpoena, latitat, nisi prius, venire, venire facias pleadings, declaration, bill, claim, proces verbal, bill of right, information, corpus delicti, affidavit, state of facts, answer, reply, replication, plea, demurrer, rebutter, rejoinder, surrebutter, surrejoinder, suitor, party to a suit, plaintiff, defendant, litigant, hearing, trial, verdict, appeal, appeal motion, writ of error, certiorari, case, decision, precedent, decided case, reports (legal reference works, see reference books), litigious, qui tam, coram judice, sub judice, pendente lite, adhuc sub judice lis est, accedas ad curiam, transeat in exemplum.