SINCE 1828
occasional cause
nounDefinition of occasional cause
1a
: a mental state (as desire or decision) considered as the occasion but not the real cause of a physical phenomenon (as bodily behavior)
b
: a physical phenomenon considered similarly as the occasion of a mental state — compare occasionalism
2
: a circumstance that precedes an effect and that without being the real cause is the occasion of its action
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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