different between answer vs cause

English

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

• answeare, aunswer, aunswere (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???n.s?/, /?an.s?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æn.s?/
• (æ-tensing, rhotic) IPA^(key): [?e?n.s?]
• (æ-tensing, non-rhotic) IPA^(key): [?e?n.s?]
• Hyphenation: an?swer
• Rhymes: -??ns?(?), -æns?(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English answere, andsware, from Old English andswaru (“answer”), from and- (“against”) +? -swaru (“affirmation”), (from Proto-Indo-European *h?ent- (“front, forehead”) and Old English swerian (“to swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer-), suggesting an original meaning of "a sworn statement rebutting a charge". The cognates suggest the existence of Proto-Germanic *andaswar? (“a reply to a question”). Cognate with Old Frisian ondser (“answer”), Old Saxon andsw?r (“answer”), Danish and Swedish ansvar (“liability, responsibility, answer”), Icelandic andsvar (“answer, response”). Compare also Old English andwyrde (“answer”) (cognate to Dutch antwoord, German Antwort), Old English andcwiss (“reply”), German Schwur (“oath, vow”).

Noun

answer (plural answers)

1. A response or reply; something said or done in reaction to a statement or question.

2. A solution to a problem.

3. (law) A document filed in response to a complaint, responding to each point raised in the complaint and raising counterpoints.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ask

Etymology 2

From Middle English answeren, andswaren, answerien, from Old English andswarian, answarien (“to answer, to respond, to deny an allegation under oath”), from Proto-Germanic *andaswar?n?, *andaswarjan? (“to answer, to give a response, to rebut”), from *anda- (“against”) +? *swarjan?, *swar?n? (“to swear an oath, to answer, to respond”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to swear”) and *h?ent- (“face, forehead”), equivalent to and- (“against, back”) +? swear. Cognate with Old Frisian ondswera (“to answer”), Danish ansvare (“to answer, account for”), Swedish ansvara (“to answer, account for”), Icelandic andsvara (“to answer, reply”).

Verb

answer (third-person singular simple present answers, present participle answering, simple past and past participle answered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a reply or response to.

2. (transitive) To speak in defence against; to reply to in defence.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To respond to a call by someone at a door or telephone, or other similar piece of equipment.

4. (transitive, intransitive) To suit a need or purpose satisfactorily.
   • 1871, Alexander J. Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, London: Trübner & Co., Part III, Chapter 7, section 1, p. 656, footnote 1,^[1]

     Of course for publication in a newspaper, my palaeotype would not answer, but my glossotype would enable the author to give his Pennsylvania German in an English form and much more intelligibly.

5. To be accountable or responsible; to make amends.

   Synonym: answer for
6. (law) To file a document in response to a complaint.
7. To correspond to; to be in harmony with; to be in agreement with.
   • 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, Dublin: G. Burnet et al., 1794, Act II, Scene 2, p. 25,^[2]

     Egad, I wish she had answer’d her picture as well.

   • 1793, Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, Dublin: Luke White, Volume II, Book V, Chapter 2, p. 231,^[3]

     The use of dunder in the making of rum, answers the purpose of yeast in the fermentation of flour.

8. To be opposite, or to act in opposition.
   • 1786, William Gilpin, Observations, relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772: on several parts of England; particularly the mountains, and lakes of Cumberland, and Westmoreland, London: R. Blamire, Volume II, Section 19, p. 85,^[4]

     The windows answering each other, we could just discern the glowing horizon through them […]

9. To be or act in conformity, or by way of accommodation, correspondence, relation, or proportion; to conform; to correspond; to suit; usually with to.
10. To respond to satisfactorily; to meet successfully by way of explanation, argument, or justification; to refute.
11. To be or act in compliance with, in fulfillment or satisfaction of, as an order, obligation, or demand.
12. (obsolete) To render account to or for.
13. (obsolete) To atone for; to be punished for.
14. (obsolete) To be or act as an equivalent to, or as adequate or sufficient for; to serve for; to repay.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• question

Anagrams

• Warnes, awners, resawn

Middle English

Noun

answer

1. Alternative form of answere

English

Etymology

From Middle English cause, borrowed from Old French cause (“a cause, a thing”), from Latin causa (“reason, sake, cause”), in Middle English also "a thing". Origin uncertain. See accuse, excuse, recuse, ruse. Displaced native Middle English sake (“cause, reason”) (from Old English sacu (“cause”)), Middle English andweorc, andwork (“matter, cause”) (from Old English andweorc (“matter, thing, cause”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kôz, IPA^(key): /k??z/, [k?o?z?]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /k?z/, [k???z?]
• Rhymes: -??z
• Homophones: caws, 'cause; cores (non-rhotic dialects)

Noun

cause (countable and uncountable, plural causes)

1. (countable, often with of, typically of adverse results) The source of, or reason for, an event or action; that which produces or effects a result.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cause

2. (uncountable, especially with for and a bare noun) Sufficient reason for a state, as of emotion.

   Synonyms: grounds, justification

3. (countable) A goal, aim or principle, especially one which transcends purely selfish ends.
   • 1796, Edmund Burke, a letter to a noble lord

     The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:goal

4. (obsolete) Sake; interest; advantage.

   • I did it not for his cause.

5. (countable, obsolete) Any subject of discussion or debate; a matter; an affair.
6. (countable, 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.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• effect

Verb

cause (third-person singular simple present causes, present participle causing, simple past and past participle caused)

1. (transitive) To set off an event or action.

   • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
2. (ditransitive) To actively produce as a result, by means of force or authority.

   • I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days.
3. To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Derived terms

• causation
• causer

Translations

Further reading

• cause at OneLook Dictionary Search
• cause in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• cause in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• -sauce, sauce

Asturian

Verb

cause

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of causar

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /koz/
• Homophones: causent, causes

Etymology 1

From Old French cause, borrowed from Classical Latin causa. Compare chose, an inherited doublet.

Noun

cause f (plural causes)

1. cause

   Antonym: conséquence

2. (law) case (a legal proceeding)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

cause

1. inflection of causer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “cause” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• sauce, sceau

Italian

Noun

cause f pl

1. plural of causa

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French cause.

Noun

cause (plural causes)

1. cause
   • 14^th Century, Chaucer, General Prologue

     He knew the cause of everich maladye

     He knew the cause of every illness

Descendants

• English: cause

Norman

Etymology

From Old French cause, borrowed from Latin causa.

Noun

cause f (plural causes)

1. (Jersey, law) case

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin causa, whence the inherited chose.

Noun

cause f (oblique plural causes, nominative singular cause, nominative plural causes)

1. cause

Descendants

• Middle English: cause
  • English: cause
• Middle French: cause
  • French: cause
• Norman: cause

Portuguese

Verb

cause

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of causar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of causar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of causar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of causar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kause/, [?kau?.se]

Verb

cause

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of causar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of causar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of causar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of causar.