indirect cause
Upstream triggering element
An indirect cause is something that contributes to an outcome through intermediate steps rather than producing it directly.
If a faulty wire starts a fire that kills someone, the wire is an indirect cause of death while the fire is the direct cause.
The term appears frequently in legal and philosophical discussions of responsibility: The court found the landlord's negligence was an indirect cause of the injury.
Also called a proximate or contributing cause, depending on context.
- rippleMinor surface disturbance
- ripple effectCascading secondary results
- dominoRectangular game piece
- domino effectSequential causation phenomenon
- triggerWhat initiates action
underlying · root · contributing · contributing factor · factor · chain · chain reaction · butterfly · butterfly effect · consequence · influence · seed · antecedent · proximate · but for · distant · remote · secondary
indirect causedirect cause
Immediate source of outcome
triggering event · primary cause · precipitant · spark · catalyst
indirect, cause, direct, directly, indirectly, direction, directional, director, directive