The Clue
Five to ten, e.g.? (6 letter answer)
The Answer
FACTOR
Tags
Notes
The answer FACTOR is rarely seen, appearing only about once every 1100 puzzles.
Related Clues
Agent
Component
Contributing ___
Divisor
Ingredient
Break down
Commission merchant
Cosmetician Max
Important point
2 or 3, to 6
2, 3, 4 or 6, for 12
Definition
FACTOR as a noun:
1. anything that contributes causally to a result; "a number of factors determined the outcome"
2. (component, constituent, element, factor, ingredient) = an abstract part of something; "jealousy was a component of his character"; "two constituents of a musical composition are melody and harmony"; "the grammatical elements of a sentence"; "a key factor in her success"; "humor: an effective ingredient of a speech"
3. any of the numbers (or symbols) that form a product when multiplied together
4. (divisor, factor) = one of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into another integer; "what are the 4 factors of 6?"
5. (agent, factor, broker) = a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a commission
6. an independent variable in statistics
7. (gene, cistron, factor) = (genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity; "genes were formerly called factors"
FACTOR as a verb:
1. (factor, factor in, factor out) = resolve into factors; "a quantum computer can factor the number 15"