factor

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aside from its technical senses, means 'a fact or circumstance that contributes to a result', and the notion of cause lies at the heart of its use, as in Gladstone's sentence (1878) The first factor in the making of a nation is its religion. A modern example of its proper use is:

Other factors can alter the Earth's climate from millennium to millennium and decade to decade—C. Tudge, 1991.

In recent years, however, factor has become widely used in a weakened meaning 'consideration, aspect, feature' with little or no notion of causality:

A very important factor in the teaching of tennis is the value of practice once the lesson is over—Tennis World, 1991.

A new use dating from the 1980s involves a preceding noun as a defining word (originally the Falklands factor, then with successive connotations the Iraq factor) to denote an event which is considered to have a significant effect on the fortunes or politics of a country, political party, etc.:

The continuation of the Iraq factor, uncertainty over the general economic situation and shaky stock markets all play their part—Birmingham Post, 2003.

The feel-good factor is a feeling of material security in society, which occasionally yields to the feel-bad factor.

The flagging fortunes of factor as a verb have been boosted with the evolution of the phrasal verb factor in, meaning 'to include (a factor) in an assessment, plan, etc.':

All the political and military variables should be factored in before Israel decides on a response—Los Angeles Times, 1991.

It originated in business talk in American English and has spread rapidly to British use, even achieving some general currency; factor out is also occasionally found:

Busy lifestyles have created buildings which have factored out healthy living—Guardian, 2005.

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Depending on the context, see factor analysis; factorial experiment.

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For more information on factor, visit Britannica.com.

A number that divides evenly into another number. For example, 3 and 4 are factors of 12. See factorial and IFP.

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Third party who provides the marketer with cash by purchasing, or taking a lien against, the accounts receivable or inventories of the marketer. A factor who purchases the accounts receivable assumes all risk and responsibility for collection. Sale of accounts receivable to a factor is risky in that the factor is dealing directly with the marketer's customers and may antagonize them or be perceived as an indication that the marketer is having financial difficulties. Factors are most often used by industrial marketers.

Agent employed to sell goods or merchandise consigned or delivered to him by or for his principal for a compensation commonly called factorage, discount , or commission. A factor may buy and sell in either his own name or the principal’s name.
See also factoring ; factors .

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noun

1. One of the individual entities contributing to a whole: building block, component, constituent, element, ingredient, integrant, part. See part/whole.
2. One of the conditions or facts attending an event and having some bearing on it: circumstance, detail, fact, particular. See real/imaginary.

See coefficient of X.

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n. a circumstance, fact, or influence that contributes to a result or outcome: she worked fast, conscious of the time factor.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

A component, constituent part, or condition that contributes to a result.

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

An event, circumstance, influence, or element that plays a part in bringing about a result.

A factor in a case contributes to its causation or outcome. In the area of negligence law, the factors, or chain of causation, are important in determining whether liability ensues from a particular action done by the defendant.

1. A financial intermediary that purchases receivables from companies.

2. In terms of mortgages, the ratio of principal outstanding to the original balance.

Investopedia Says:
1. The sale of accounts receivables is called factoring.

Related Links:
Waiting for customers to pay can be a losing game. Look to factoring for quicker cash. Small Business: Speed Up Receivables To Avoid A Cash Crunch

IN BRIEF: Any one of the causes bring about a result. Also: numbers multiplied together to form a product.

Gravity is a contributing factor in 73 percent of all accidents involving falling objects. — Dave Barry.

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

1. any component or cause that contributes to an effect or result; a term often used to denote an uncharacterized (or incompletely characterized) component of a biological system.
2. (in mathematics) any integer or polynomial that can be divided exactly into another integer or polynomial.

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An agent or element that contributes to the production of a result. In epidemiology and statistics called also a variable because the factor may have a number of values. In an experiment a factor is a type of treatment and in the experiment the factor will be represented in different groups by different values. Such a factor may originate spontaneously or be introduced by an investigator.

• f. analysis — a statistical method for analyzing the correlations between several variables.
• antihemorrhagic f. — vitamin K.
• antinuclear f. (ANF) — antinuclear antibody.
• antirachitic f. — vitamin D.
• f. B — a complement component (C3 proactivator) that participates in the alternate complement pathway.
• C3 nephritic f. — a gamma globulin that is not an immunoglobulin, which is found in the plasma of certain individuals with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis associated with hypocomplementemia; it initiates the alternate complement pathway.
• citrovorum f. — folinic acid.
• clotting f's, coagulation f's — factors essential to normal blood clotting, whose absence, diminution or excess may lead to abnormality of the clotting mechanism. See also clotting factors.
• f. D — a factor that, when activated, serves as a serine esterase in the alternate complement pathway.
• extrinsic f. — a hematopoietic vitamin that combines with intrinsic factor for absorption from the intestine and is needed for erythrocyte maturation; called also cyanocobalamin and vitamin B₁₂.
• F f., fertility f. — the plasmid that determines the mating type of conjugating bacteria, being present in the donor (male) bacterium and absent in the recipient (female).
• f's I to XIII — see clotting factors and names of individual factors.
• f. VIII activity — a test for hemophilia A; activity is measured in biologic assays using factor VIII-deficient plasma as the substrate.
• f. VIII-related antigen — von Willebrand antigen.
• f. IX deficiency — see plasma thromboplastin component (PTC).
• f. IX complex — a sterile, freeze-dried powder containing coagulation factors II, VII, IX and X.
• f. X deficiency — see stuart factor.
• f. XI deficiency — see plasma thromboplastin antecedent (PTA).
• f. XII deficiency — see hageman factor.
• fibrin stabilizing f. — factor XIII, one of the blood clotting factors that converts soluble fibrin monomer to insoluble, stable fibrin polymer.
• intrinsic f. — a glycoprotein secreted by the parietal cells of the gastric glands, necessary for the absorption of vitamin B₁₂ (cyanocobalamin, extrinsic factor). Its absence in humans results in pernicious anemia. Porcine stomach is a very rich source.
• LE f. — an immunoglobulin (a 7S antibody) that reacts with leukocyte nuclei, found in the serum in systemic lupus erythematosus.
• f. loading — a relationship between observable manifestations (or variables) and the underlying factors affecting the variables.
• lymph node permeability f. (LNPF) — a substance from normal lymph nodes which produces vascular permeability.
• lymphocyte transforming f. (LTF) — a lymphokine causing transformation and clonal expansion of lymphocytes.
• osteoclast activating f. — substance produced by lymphocytes which facilitates bone resorption.
• platelet f's — factors important in hemostasis that are contained in or attached to the platelets. See also platelet factors.
• platelet-activating f. (PAF) — an immunologically produced substance which leads to clumping and degranulation of blood platelets.
• R f., resistance f. — a bacterial plasmid (R plasmid) which carries genes for antimicrobial resistance; it can be transmitted to other bacterial cells by conjugation, as well as to daughter cells.
• release f. — a protein that binds directly to any stop codon that reaches the A site on the ribosome.
• releasing f's — factors elaborated in one structure (as in the hypothalamus) that effect the release of hormones from another structure (as from the anterior pituitary gland), including corticotropin releasing factor, melanocyte-stimulating hormone releasing factor and prolactin releasing factor. Applied to substances of unknown chemical structure, while substances of established chemical identity are called releasing hormones.
• transfer f. (TF) — a factor released from sensitized lymphocytes that has the capacity to transfer delayed hypersensitivity to a normal (nonsensitized) animal. See also transfer factor.

n

A constituent, element, cause, or agent that influences a process or system; a gene; a dietary substance.

For a list of words related to factor, see:

• Quantities, Relationships, and Operations - factor: two or more numbers multiplied together, each number being a factor of the product
• Accounting - factor: entity that buys accounts receivable at discount from firm unable to carry them

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See words rhyming with "factor."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Factor.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - faktor, forhold, omstændighed, agent, kommissionær, forvalter
v. tr. - opløse i faktorer, indregne

idioms:

• factor analysis    faktoranalyse
• factor in    indregne
• factor into    regne med i

Nederlands (Dutch)
factor, handelaar, agent, gen (genetische factor), in factoren ontbinden

Français (French)
n. - facteur, courtier, commissionnaire, régisseur, (Math) facteur, (Comm) courtier, facteur (de dettes), (Écosse) régisseur, (Tech) coefficient (de sécurité)
v. tr. - (Comm) agir en tant qu'agent à la commission, (Math) mettre (qch) en facteur, factoriser

idioms:

• factor analysis    analyse factorielle
• factor in    prendre en compte
• factor into    prendre en compte
• factor out    ne pas tenir compte de, ignorer

Deutsch (German)
n. - Faktor, Erbfaktor, Agent, Gutsverwalter
v. - sich als Agent betätigen

idioms:

• factor analysis    Faktoranlayse
• factor in    in Faktoren zerlegen
• factor into    in Faktoren zerlegen
• factor out    (Math) ausklammern

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - παράγοντας, συντελεστής, (μαθημ.) παράγων, διαιρέτης
v. - (μαθημ.) βρίσκω τους διαιρέτες ενός αριθμού

idioms:

• factor analysis    (μαθημ.) παραγοντική ανάλυση
• factor in    περιλαμβάνω στους υπολογισμούς μου
• factor into    περιλαμβάνω στους υπολογισμούς μου

Italiano (Italian)
fattore

idioms:

• factor analysis    analisi fattoriale
• factor in/into    aggregare

Português (Portuguese)
n. - fator (m)
v. - decompor em fatores

idioms:

• factor analysis    análise (f) dos fatores
• factor in/into    levar em consideração

Русский (Russian)
фактор, агент, посредник, множитель, управляющий

idioms:

• factor analysis    анализ множителей
• factor in/into    разлагать на множители

Español (Spanish)
n. - factor, elemento
v. tr. - descomponer o dividir en factores

idioms:

• factor analysis    análisis de factores (estadística)
• factor in    tomar en cuenta, incluir en el cálculo
• factor into    tomar en cuenta, incluir en el cálculo
• factor out    excluir del cálculo o decisión

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - faktor (matem.), orsak, agent, förvaltare, gen
v. - dela upp i faktorer (matem.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
因素, 代理人, 因数, 分解...的因子, 把...作为因素计入, 把...分解成, 代理经营

idioms:

• factor analysis    因素分析, 因子分析
• factor in    把...作为因子计入
• factor into    把...作为因子计入, 把...分解成

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 因素, 代理人, 因數
v. tr. - 分解...的因數, 把...作為因素計入, 把...分解成, 代理經營

idioms:

• factor analysis    因素分析, 因子分析
• factor in    把...作為因數計入
• factor into    把...作為因數計入, 把...分解成

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 요인, 대리인
v. tr. - ~을 인수로 분해하다, ~을 요소에 넣다

idioms:

• factor in    (계산 등의)인자로 포함하다
• factor into    (계산 등의)인자로 포함하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 要因, 要素, 因数, 因子, 係数, 代理人, 代理店, 仲買人

idioms:

• factor analysis    因子分析
• factor in/into    計算に入れる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عامل (فعل) يحلل إلى العوامل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮גורם, עמיל, סוכן‬
v. tr. - ‮חילק לגורמים או למרכיבים (מתמטיקה)‬

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Some good "factor" pages on the web: