primary cause
Chief contributing factor
Primary cause is the main or most important factor that brings about an effect or event.
In philosophy and theology, it often refers to the first cause in a chain of causation—the originating force rather than intermediate factors.
In legal and medical contexts, identifying the primary cause means distinguishing the chief contributor from secondary or contributing causes: The primary cause of the accident was driver fatigue.
- rootUnderground absorbing structure
- originStarting point or source
- point of originWhere something starts
- sourcePoint of origin
- ground zeroExplosion's central impact point
catalyst · trigger · first domino · spark · seed · genesis · driver · foundation · ground floor · core · heart · crux · basis · underlying · fundamental · main · chief · principal
primary causeeffect
Result of a cause
end result · consequence · result · outcome · side effect
primary, cause, primal, primarily, prime, primer, primate, primacy, primitive