0 a fact or situation that influences the result of something:
People's voting habits are influenced by political, social and economic factors.
Heavy snow was a contributing factor in the accident.
Price will be a major/crucial factor in the success of this new product.
The economy is regarded as the decisive/key factor in the outcome of the election.
informal The movie's success is largely due to its feel-good factor (= its ability to make people feel happy).
1 in mathematics, any whole number that is produced when you divide a larger number by another whole number:
2 a fact or situation that influences a result:
3 a number or variable (= letter or symbol) that is being multiplied in a product (= result of multiplying):
In 6×3=18, 6 and 3 are factors of the product 18.
4 one of several things that affects or influences a situation:
Increasing use of online newspapers was definitely a contributing factor to the company's collapse.
a key/significant/major factor
5 a business that buys the right to collect debts for another company and charges for collecting them:
Using a factor can be a good way of getting better cashflow.
6 the amount that a number is multiplied or divided by:
7 a company or person that sells goods produced by another company using their own name, usually for payment
8 something special that a product, idea, person, etc. has that makes them successful or makes people notice them:
What's missing from this organization is the leadership factor.
Her latest fashion collection certainly has the wow factor.
9 to sell the right to collect payments and debts owed to your company or organization to another business:
Diet and exercise can influence a person's weight, but heredity is also a factor.
Smoking is a causative factor in the development of several serious diseases, including lung cancer.
Too little exercise is a contributory factor in heart disease.
The environmental argument was a deciding factor.
We need to take a lot of factors into account in our decision-making.
However, close monitoring and a quick response seem to be the key factors in achieving success.
Cognitive factors involved in preserving a phonetic contrast.
Yet so many other factors also influence epistemic convictions that purely national styles may be relatively rare.
