English▸ noun
1 a circumstance, fact, or influence that contributes to a result or outcome:
she worked fast, conscious of the time factor
his legal problems were not a factor in his decision.
▪ Biology a gene or similar agent transmitted by heredity from one generation to the next:
the Rhesus factor.
2 a number or quantity that when multiplied with another produces a given number or expression:
an amount that exceeds it by a factor of 1000 or more.
▪ Mathematics a number or algebraic expression by which another is exactly divisible.
3 Physiology any of a number of substances in the blood, mostly identified by numerals, which are involved in coagulation. See factor VIII.
4 a business agent; a merchant buying and selling on commission:
his father was chief factor for the Hudson's Bay Company.
▪ a company that buys a manufacturer's invoices at a discount and takes responsibility for collecting the payments due on them.
▪ archaic an agent, deputy, or representative.
▸ verb [with object]
– PHRASAL VERBS
factor in (factor something in, factor in something)
include a particular fact or circumstance in one's considerations or calculations; take something into account:
exclude a particular fact or circumstance from one's considerations or calculations:
factor in (factor something in, factor in something)
include a particular fact or circumstance in one's considerations or calculations; take something into account:
when the psychological costs are factored in, a different picture will emerge.
factor out (factor something out, factor out something) exclude a particular fact or circumstance from one's considerations or calculations:
I suspect that if new car sales were factored out, sales in retail stores are actually decreasing.
– ORIGIN late Middle English (meaning ‘doer’, also in the Scots sense ‘agent’): from French facteur or Latin factor, from fact- ‘done’, from the verb facere.