CAUSAL AGENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does causal agent mean? 

• CAUSAL AGENT (noun)
  The noun CAUSAL AGENT has 1 sense:

1. any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results

  Familiarity information: CAUSAL AGENT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CAUSAL AGENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any entity that produces an effect or is responsible for events or results

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Synonyms:

causal agency; causal agent; cause

Hypernyms ("causal agent" is a kind of...):

physical entity (an entity that has physical existence)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "causal agent"):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

agent (an active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect)

nature (a causal agent creating and controlling things in the universe)

occult; supernatural (supernatural forces and events and beings collectively)

theurgy (the effect of supernatural or divine intervention in human affairs)

first cause; prime mover; primum mobile (an agent that is the cause of all things but does not itself have a cause)

destiny; fate (the ultimate agency regarded as predetermining the course of events (often personified as a woman))

catalyst (something that causes an important event to happen)

deus ex machina (any active agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an insoluble difficulty)

manipulator; operator (an agent that operates some apparatus or machine)

force; power (one possessing or exercising power or influence or authority)

life principle; vital principle (a hypothetical force to which the functions and qualities peculiar to living things are sometimes ascribed)

engine (something used to achieve a purpose)

cause of death; killer (the causal agent resulting in death)

danger (a cause of pain or injury or loss)

agent (a substance that exerts some force or effect)

 Context examples 

A species of diploid fungus in the phylum Ascomycota which is capable of mating but not of meiosis, and is a causal agent of opportunistic oral and genital infections in humans.

(Candida albicans, NCI Thesaurus)