Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
The outermost celestial sphere of the heavens in Ptolemaic astronomy, which was believed to cause all the inner spheres to rotate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
Topics: astronomy, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The prime mover or first cause (“an initial cause from which all other causes and effects follow”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: human-sciences, lifestyle, philosophy, religion, sciences, theology
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: primus motor
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The person or thing that is the main impetus for some action; a driving force.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
an agent that is the cause of all things but does not itself have a cause
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: first cause, prime mover
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: causal agent, cause, causal agency
History
From Middle English primum mobile (“outermost celestial sphere causing other spheres to move”), borrowed from Medieval Latin prīmum mōbile (literally “first mover”), a calque of Arabic مُحَرِّك أَوَّل (muḥarrik ʔawwal, “first mover”), which is itself a calque of Ancient Greek τὸ πρῶτον κινῆσαν (tò prôton kinêsan, “prime mover”).
Across languages
6 source translations are retained for this English entry.
