Word.ws English Dictionary

final cause

final cause noun: the purpose, goal, or end fulfilled by a thing.

Noun

final cause (plural final causes)

  1. (natural) The purpose, goal, or end fulfilled by a thing.
    • In the production of a statue of Athena for the Parthenon, the bronze is the material cause; the shape and design of the statue is the formal cause; the sculptor is the efficient cause; the honor of the goddess (and the glory of Athens) is the final cause.1998, R. J. Schork, Greek and Hellenic Culture in Joyce, →ISBN, page 176

Forms of final cause

pluralfinal causes

Questions about final cause

What does final cause mean?
Final cause means the purpose, goal, or end fulfilled by a thing.
What part of speech is final cause?
Final cause is a noun.
What is the plural of final cause?
The plural of final cause is final causes.

Words near final cause in the dictionary

  1. final B
  2. final ball
  3. final boss
  4. final bosses
  5. final Bs
  6. final cause
  7. final causes
  8. final circuit
  9. final class
  10. final classes
  11. final clause

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: final cause (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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