Conduces

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To lead towards a specific result or outcome while aiding a process through influence
2. To facilitate an occasion or condition that drives a particular effect, contributing positively to a situation
3. Supports or assists in causing a particular effect or outcome

Etymology: Latin "condūcere" once meant to lead things together in a literal, physical sense, and the English word "conduce" first carried the same surgical flavor. Late Middle English speakers used "conducen" to describe guiding, drawing together, or setting parts of the body: drawing the edges of a wound together, or setting a broken bone. The sense of bringing parts into alignment is the root of the modern meaning. The Latin verb is built from "con-", meaning together, and "dūcere", to lead or draw. Its figurative sense, to contribute to something by being useful, is what English eventually adopted. A thing that conduces to an outcome draws it together, in the way a surgeon's stitches draw a wound closed. "Conduce" is a doublet of "conduct" and "conn", words that share the same Latin source through different routes. Where "conduct" kept the sense of leading or guiding, "conduce" settled on the idea of helping an effect along.

Synonyms: leads, results, contributes, causes, facilitates

Antonyms: hinders, impedes, obstructs, prevents, blocks