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Cause vs Agent - What's the difference?

cause | agent |

As a verb cause

is .

As a noun agent is

agent (intermediary for certain services, such as for artistic performances or public relations).

cause

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The source of, or reason for, an event or action; that which produces or effects a result.
    • Her wedding will be cause for celebration.
    They identified a burst pipe as the cause of the flooding.
  • * , chapter=5
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
  • A goal, aim or principle, especially one which transcends purely selfish ends.
  • * Shakespeare
    • God befriend us, as our cause is just.
  • * Burke
    • The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause .
  • (obsolete) Sake; interest; advantage.
  • * Bible, 2 Corinthians vii. 12
    • I did it not for his cause .
  • (obsolete) Any subject of discussion or debate; a matter; an affair.
  • * Shakespeare
    • What counsel give you in this weighty cause ?
  • (legal) 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.

    • Synonyms

    * (source or reason) reason, source

    Derived terms

    * because * causal * causality * causative * cause celebre * efficient cause * final cause * for cause (law) * formal cause * material cause

    See also

    * effect

    Verb

    (caus)
  • 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.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
    • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic
  • To actively produce as a result, by means of force or authority.
  • * Bible, (w) vii.4
    • I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days.
  • * , chapter=13
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
  • To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse.
    • (Spenser)

    Derived terms

    * causation

    Statistics

    *

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * English control verbs ----

    agent

    English

    (wikipedia agent)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who exerts power, or has the power to act; an actor.
    • Heaven made us agents , free to good or ill. --Dryden.
  • One who acts for, or in the place of, another (the principal), by authority from him; one intrusted with the business of another; a substitute; a deputy; a factor.
    • I see in him [Moby Dick] outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent , or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. --Herman Melville, , ch. 36
  • An active power or cause; that which has the power to produce an effect; as, a physical, chemical, or medicinal agent ; as, heat is a powerful agent.
  • (computing) In the client-server model, the part of the system that performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client or server. Especially in the phrase “intelligent agent” it implies some kind of autonomous process which can communicate with other agents to perform some collective task on behalf of one or more humans.
  • (grammar) The participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation, e.g. "the boy" in the sentences "The boy kicked the ball" and "The ball was kicked by the boy".

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * (grammar) patient

    Derived terms

    * Agent Orange * agent noun * anti-caking agent * antibacterial agent * anticaking agent * antimicrobial agent * bleaching agent * bonding agent * chelating agent * chemical agent * clarifying agent * cleaning agent * coating agent * double agent * firming agent * flavoring agent * flavouring agent * gelling agent * leavening agent * lifting agent * oxidizing agent * processing agent * purchasing agent * raising agent * reducing agent * secret agent * sourcing agent * structuring agent * thickening agent * travel agent * user agent * wetting agent * whitening agent

    Related terms

    * act * action * agency

    See also

    * proxy

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----