different between cause vs compel
cause
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)
- (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
- (uncountable, especially with for and a bare noun) Sufficient reason for a state, as of emotion.
- Synonyms: grounds, justification
- (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
- 1796, Edmund Burke, a letter to a noble lord
- (obsolete) Sake; interest; advantage.
- I did it not for his cause.
- (countable, obsolete) Any subject of discussion or debate; a matter; an affair.
- (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)
- (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.
- (ditransitive) To actively produce as a result, by means of force or authority.
- I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days.
- 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
- 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)
- cause
- Antonym: conséquence
- (law) case (a legal proceeding)
Derived terms
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the main entry.
Verb
cause
- inflection of causer:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- 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
- plural of causa
Middle English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French cause.
Noun
cause (plural causes)
- cause
- 14th Century, Chaucer, General Prologue
- He knew the cause of everich maladye
- He knew the cause of every illness
- He knew the cause of everich maladye
- 14th Century, Chaucer, General Prologue
Descendants
- English: cause
Norman
Etymology
From Old French cause, borrowed from Latin causa.
Noun
cause f (plural causes)
- (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)
- cause
Descendants
- Middle English: cause
- English: cause
- Middle French: cause
- French: cause
- Norman: cause
Portuguese
Verb
cause
- first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of causar
- third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of causar
- third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of causar
- third-person singular (você) negative imperative of causar
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?kause/, [?kau?.se]
Verb
cause
- Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of causar.
- First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of causar.
- Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of causar.
- Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of causar.
cause From the web:
- what causes hiccups
- what causes high blood pressure
- what causes kidney stones
- what causes hemorrhoids
- what caused the great depression
- what causes diarrhea
- what causes canker sores
- what causes vertigo
compel
English
Etymology
From Middle English compellen, borrowed from Middle French compellir, from Latin compellere, itself from com- (“together”) + pellere (“to drive”). Displaced native Middle English fordriven ("to drive out, to lead to, to compel, to force"), from Old English fordr?fan. More at fordrive.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /k?m?p?l/
- Rhymes: -?l
- Hyphenation: com?pel
Verb
compel (third-person singular simple present compels, present participle compelling, simple past and past participle compelled)
- (transitive, archaic, literally) To drive together, round up (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (transitive) To overpower; to subdue.
- (transitive) To force, constrain or coerce.
- Logic compels the wise, while fools feel compelled by emotions.
- 1600, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act 5, scene 1,
- Against my will, / As Pompey was, am I compell’d to set / Upon one battle all our liberties.
- 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England
- Wolsey […] compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once.
- (transitive) To exact, extort, (make) produce by force.
- (obsolete) To force to yield; to overpower; to subjugate.
- Easy sleep their weary limbs compell'd.
- ?, Alfred Tennyson, Geraint and Enid
- I compel all creatures to my will.
- (obsolete) To gather or unite in a crowd or company.
- in one troop compell'd
- (obsolete) To call forth; to summon.
Derived terms
Related terms
- compulsion
Translations
References
- compel in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “compel” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- Random House Webster’s Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.
compel From the web:
- what compelled skloot to tell this story
- what compels us to survive
- what compelling means
- what compels you
- what compels daisy to cry
- what compelled handel to compose messiah
- what compelled you to apply for this position
- what compelled perseus to kill medusa
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