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First Cause
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first cause
first causenouna source or cause of something
First Cause
Americannoun
noun
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a source or cause of something
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(often capitals) (esp in philosophy) God considered as the uncaused creator of all beings apart from himself
Etymology
Origin of First Cause
First recorded in 1895–1900
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This reverts to the problem of the First Cause, which is the uncaused cause that gave rise to all other causes.
From Scientific American • Mar. 4, 2018
Here the First Cause of street cars, steamboats, telephones could be seen.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Barth insists that natural theology can only understand God as a First Cause or a Great Designer or some similar abstract idea that in reality is a product of man's own thinking processes.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Aquinas reasoned that each effect must have a cause and that an endless chain must proceed back to a primordial First Cause or Prime Mover.
From Time Magazine Archive
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God and man—the Creator and the thing created, the First Cause and the last effect—are both judiciously only introduced into the drama by hearsay.
From Vondel's Lucifer by Vondel, Joost van den
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.