consequence

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Something that logically or naturally follows from an action or condition. See Synonyms at effect.
2. n. The relation of a result to its cause.
3. n. A logical conclusion or inference.
4. n. Importance in rank or position: scientists of consequence.
5. n. Significance; importance: an issue of consequence. See Synonyms at importance.
6. idiom. in consequence As a result; consequently.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Connection of cause and effect, or of antecedent and consequent; consecution.
2. n. That which follows from or grows out of any act, cause, proceeding, or series of actions; an event or effect produced by some preceeding influence, action, act, or cause; a consequent; a result.
3. n. The conclusion of a syllogism.
4. n. A consequent inference; deduction; specifically, in logic, a form of inference or aspect under which any inference may be regarded, having but one premise, the antecedent, and one conclusion, the consequent, the principle according to which the consequent follows from the antecedent being, like the whole inference, termed the consequence.
5. n. Importance; moment; significance: applied to things: as, this is a matter of consequence, or of some, little, great, or no consequence.
6. n. Importance; influence; distinction; note: applied to persons: as, a man of consequence.
7. n. plural A game in which one player writes down an adjective, the second the name of a man, the third an adjective, the fourth the name of a woman, the fifth what he said, the sixth what she said, the seventh the consequence, etc., etc., no one seeing what the others have written. After all have written, the paper is read.
8. n. Synonyms Result, Issue, etc. See effect.
9. To draw inferences; form deductions.
10. n. In astronomy, motion from an earlier to a later sign of the zodiac, or from west to east; direct motion.

Wiktionary

1. n. That which follows something on which it depends; that which is produced by a cause.
2. n. A result of actions.
3. n. A proposition collected from the agreement of other previous propositions; any conclusion which results from reason or argument; inference.
4. n. Chain of causes and effects; consecution.
5. n. Importance with respect to what comes after.
6. n. The power to influence or produce an effect.
7. n. importance, value, or influence
8. v. transitive To threaten or punish (a child, etc.) with specific consequences for misbehaviour.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. That which follows something on which it depends; that which is produced by a cause; a result.
2. n. (Logic) A proposition collected from the agreement of other previous propositions; any conclusion which results from reason or argument; inference.
3. n. Chain of causes and effects; consecution.
4. n. Importance with respect to what comes after; power to influence or produce an effect; value; moment; rank; distinction.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon
2. n. the outcome of an event especially as relative to an individual
3. n. having important effects or influence