Found 1 items, similar to Efficient cause.
English → English (gcide) Definition: Efficient cause Cause \Cause\ (k[add]z), n. [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. [1913 Webster] Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to make one thing begin to be. --Locke. [1913 Webster] 2. That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground; reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing. [1913 Webster] 3. Sake; interest; advantage. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] I did it not for his cause. --2 Cor. vii. 12. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 5. Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question; affair in general. [1913 Webster] What counsel give you in this weighty cause! --Shak. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] God befriend us, as our cause is just. --Shak. [1913 Webster] The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause. --Burke. [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 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. [1913 Webster]