Triggers

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Elements that elicit a specific response or action in various contexts
2. Devices or factors that cause machines or processes to start functioning ; external inputs that provoke emotional or physical responses
3. Components that set off or activate systems or events ; events or conditions that prompt a reaction or change in behavior

Etymology: "Triggers" is the plural of "trigger," so it is best understood through the noun. The word first appeared in English as "tricker," borrowed from Dutch "trekker," meaning a pull, as in a drawer-pull or bell-pull, itself from the Dutch verb "trekken," to drag, draw, or pull. The image is entirely physical: a small lever that you pull to set something moving. The gunlock was the lever's most famous home. The firearm's trigger releases the mechanism that fires the shot, and that mechanical sense of a small pull that sets off a larger action gave the word the figurative life it has today. A trigger is now anything that sets off a reaction: a smell that brings back a memory, a phrase that provokes anger, an event that starts a chain of consequences.

Synonyms: initiators, causes

Antonyms: stoppers, deterrents