N. cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production

V. be the cause of, originate, give origin to, give rise, to, give occasion to, cause, occasion, sow the seeds of, kindle, suscitate, bring on, bring to bring pass, bring about, produce, create, set up, set afloat, set on foot, found, broach, institute, lay the foundation of, lie at the root of, procure, induce, draw down, open the door to, superinduce, evoke, entail, operate, elicit, provoke, conduce to, contribute, have a hand in the pie, have a finger in the pie, determine, decide, turn the scale, have a common origin, derive its origin

Adj. caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin

Adv. because, behind the scenes

Phr. causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas

N. attribution, theory, etiology, ascription, reference to, rationale, accounting for, palætiology, imputation, derivation from, filiation, affiliation, pedigree, explanation, reason why

V. attribute to, ascribe to, impute to, refer to, lay to, point to, trace to, bring home to, put down to, set down to, blame, charge on, ground on, invest with, assign as cause, lay at, the door of, father upon, account for, derive from, point out the reason, theorize, tell how it comes, put the saddle on the right horse

Adj. attributed, attributable, referable to, referrible to, due to, derivable from, owing to, putative, ecbatic

Adv. hence, thence, therefore, for, since, on account of, because, owing to, on that account, from this cause, from that cause, thanks to, forasmuch as, whence, propter hoc, why? wherefore? whence? how comes it, how is it, how happens it? how does it happen? in some way, in some such way, somehow, somehow or other

Phr. that is why, hinc illae lachrymae

N. answer, response, reply, replication, riposte, # rejoinder, surrejoinder, rebutter, surrebutter, retort, repartee, rescript, rescription, antiphon, antiphony, acknowledgment, password, echo, counter statement, discovery, solution, rationale, clue, oedipus, oracle, return

V. answer, respond, reply, rebut, retort, rejoin, give for answer, return for answer, acknowledge, echo, explain, solve, discover, fathom, hunt out, satisfy, set at rest, determine

Adj. answering, responsive, respondent, conclusive

Adv. because, on the scent, on the right scent

Int. eureka

N. interpretation, definition, explanation, explication, solution, answer, rationale, plain interpretation, simple interpretation, strict interpretation, meaning, translation, rendering, rendition, redition, literal translation, free translation, key, secret, clew, clavis, crib, pony, trot, exegesis, expounding, exposition, hermeneutics, comment, commentary, inference, illustration, exemplification, gloss, annotation, scholium, note, elucidation, dilucidation|, eclaircissement, mot d'enigme, symptomatology, semiology, semeiology, semiotics, metoposcopy, physiognomy, paleography, oneirology acception, acceptation, acceptance, light, reading, lection, construction, version, equivalent, equivalent meaning, synonym, paraphrase, metaphrase, convertible terms, apposition, dictionary, polyglot

V. interpret, explain, define, construe, translate, render, do into, turn into, transfuse the sense of, find out the meaning of, read, spell out, make out, decipher, unravel, disentangle, find the key of, enucleate, resolve, solve, read between the lines, account for, find the cause, tell the cause of, throw light upon, shed light upon, shed new light upon, shed fresh light upon, clear up, clarify, elucidate, illustrate, exemplify, unfold, expound, comment upon, annotate, popularize, take in a particular sense, understand in a particular sense, receive in a particular sense, accept in a particular sense, understand by, put a construction on, be given to understand

Adj. explanatory, expository, explicative, explicatory, exegetical, construable, polyglot, literal, paraphrastic, metaphrastic, consignificative, synonymous, equivalent

Adv. in explanation, that is to say, id est, videlicet, to wit, namely, in other words, literally, strictly speaking, in plain, in plainer terms, in plainer words, in plainer english, more simply