different between cause vs incline

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.

English

Alternative forms

• encline (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French encliner (modern incliner), from Latin incl?n? (“incline, tilt”), from in- + cl?n? (compare -cline), from Proto-Indo-European *?ley- (English lean).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?n
• (verb) enPR: ?nkl?n', IPA^(key): /?n?kla?n/
• (noun) enPR: ?n'kl?n, IPA^(key): /??n.kla?n/

Verb

incline (third-person singular simple present inclines, present participle inclining, simple past and past participle inclined)

1. (transitive) To bend or move (something) out of a given plane or direction, often the horizontal or vertical.

2. (intransitive) To slope.

3. (chiefly intransitive, chiefly passive) To tend to do or believe something, or move or be moved in a certain direction, away from a point of view, attitude, etc.

   • "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."

   • 1966, J. M. G. van der Poel, "Agriculture in Pre- and Protohistoric Times", in the Acta Historiae Neerlandica published by the Netherlands Committee of Historical Sciences, p.170:

     The terp farmer made use of the plough, as is shown by the discovery of three ploughshares and four coulters. […] Those who inclined to the stock-breeding theory based their arguments on the absence of ploughs, […].

Related terms

• inclination

Translations

Noun

incline (plural inclines)

1. A slope.

   To reach the building, we had to climb a steep incline.

Related terms

• climate
• cline
• decline
• recline

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• -nicline

French

Verb

incline

1. first-person singular present indicative of incliner
2. third-person singular present indicative of incliner
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of incliner
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of incliner
5. second-person singular imperative of incliner

Galician

Verb

incline

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of inclinar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of inclinar

Italian

Adjective

incline (plural inclini)

1. inclined, prone

   Synonyms: facile, propenso

Portuguese

Verb

incline

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of inclinar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of inclinar
3. third-person singular imperative of inclinar

Spanish

Verb

incline

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