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trigger

/ˈtrɪɡər//ˈtrɪɡə/·verb, noun
to set something off; the small action or thing that starts a bigger event
Fig. 1 — A hand presses a little plunger, and that press is the entire effort involved — a thumb's worth of work.
01Definition

A trigger is the small release that sets a much larger event in motion — and to trigger is to set it off. The word began with the catch of a gun, the little lever whose pull frees a stored force, and it keeps that shape: a tiny cause, a disproportionate effect. A single email can trigger a crisis; a smell can trigger a flood of memory. The point is leverage in time — the trigger does almost no work itself; it merely removes whatever was holding the real force back.

02In use
  • iA sharp drop in one market can trigger panic selling across the world.
  • iiThe new policy triggered a wave of protest the government had failed to anticipate.
  • iiiCertain smells can trigger memories so vivid they feel like time travel.
03Collocations
  • trigger a response
  • trigger an alarm
  • trigger a chain reaction
  • a trigger for
  • trigger memories

Family triggered (adjective) · triggering (adjective)

04Relations

=spark, set off, provoke, prompt, catalyst

≠suppress, prevent, deter

06TOEFL & IELTS

Common but precise — in TOEFL science lectures one event triggers another (a stimulus triggers a reaction); in IELTS essays a cause triggers a consequence. As a noun, 'a trigger for' names a precise cause. It pairs with response, reaction, alarm, memory, and chain reaction. Tighter than 'cause' when you mean the immediate spark rather than the deep reason.

07Asked
What does trigger mean as a verb?
To set off a much larger event with a small action — the word keeps the shape of a gun's catch, a tiny lever that frees a stored force. A single email can trigger a crisis; a smell can trigger a memory. The point is leverage: the trigger does almost no work itself. The scene above is exact — a thumb presses a plunger, and a whole tower comes down across the wire.
What is the difference between trigger and cause?
A cause is a reason something happens; a trigger is the specific spark that sets it off now. The distinction is the historian's: the deep causes of a war might build for decades, while the trigger is the single incident that lights the fuse. Use trigger when you mean the immediate release, cause when you mean the underlying reason — the fuse versus the gunpowder.
Is trigger a noun or a verb?
Both, with no change in form. The noun is the thing that sets an event off — 'a trigger for the collapse', the trigger of a gun; the verb is the act of setting it off — 'the news triggered panic'. The family adds triggered and triggering as adjectives. Context, not spelling, tells you the job: a trigger is pulled, but a crisis is triggered.
What does 'trigger a memory' mean?
To make a memory surface suddenly, set off by a small cue — a smell, a song, a place. The word fits because recall works exactly like its mechanism: the cue does little work itself; it merely releases a memory that was already stored, waiting. Proust's cake is the famous case — one taste, and a whole childhood floods back, triggered by almost nothing.
What is the difference between trigger, prompt and spark?
All start something, at different temperatures. Prompt is the mildest and most deliberate — a prompt invites or occasions a response ('the report prompted a review'). Spark is sudden and creative — it ignites something new ('sparked a movement'). Trigger is mechanical and often unwelcome — it releases a stored, larger force ('triggered a sell-off'). Prompt nudges, spark ignites, trigger releases.