a person or thing that acts, happens, or exists in such a way that some specific thing happens as a result; the producer of an effect.
You have been the cause of much anxiety.
What was the cause of the accident?
the reason or motive for some human action.
The good news was a cause for rejoicing.
good or sufficient reason.
to complain without cause;
to be dismissed for cause.
Law.
a ground of legal action; the matter over which a person goes to law.
a case for judicial decision.
any subject of discussion or debate.
a principle, ideal, goal, or movement to which a person or group is dedicated.
the Socialist cause;
the human rights cause.
the welfare of a person or group, seen as a subject of concern.
support for the cause of the American Indian.
Philosophy.
the end or purpose for which a thing is done or produced.
Aristotelianism. any of the four things necessary for the movement or the coming into being of a thing, namely a material material cause, something to act upon it efficient cause, a form taken by the movement or development formal cause, and a goal or purpose final cause.
a person, thing, event, state, or action that produces an effect
grounds for action; motive; justification
she had good cause to shout like that
the ideals, etc, of a group or movement
the Communist cause
the welfare or interests of a person or group in a dispute
they fought for the miners' cause
a matter of widespread concern or importance
the cause of public health
a ground for legal action; matter giving rise to a lawsuit
the lawsuit itself
(in the philosophy of Aristotle) any of four requirements for a thing's coming to be, namely material (material cause), its nature (formal cause), an agent (efficient cause), and a purpose (final cause)
to join with (a person, group, etc) for a common objective
What is a basic definition of cause? A cause is a person, thing, event, or action that triggers a resulting event. Cause can also mean a motivation or an ideal or goal that a person or group is dedicated to. Cause has several other senses as a noun and one as a verb. In manner of speaking, the cause tells you why something happened. A cause is the spark that lights a fire. The cause of you being sick might be a bacteria or a virus that harms your body. You giving your niece a birthday present might be the cause of her being happy. The word cause is often used with the word effect, which means a resulting action that happens because of a cause.
Cause, occasion refer to the starting of effects into motion. A cause is an agency, perhaps acting through a long time, or a long-standing situation, that produces an effect: The cause of the quarrel between the two men was jealousy. An occasion is an event that provides an opportunity for the effect to become evident, or perhaps promotes its becoming evident: The occasion was the fact that one man's wages were increased. See reason.
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Latin causa “case, reason, sake”
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; aphetic variant
A cause makes an effect, and you're likely to hear the phrase "cause and effect" when people are trying to analyze how things happen. Cause can also mean something worth fighting for — like social justice or animal rights. You might raise money for a good cause, like ending poverty. Once the doctor determines the cause of your illness, she might make it her personal cause to discover a cure. The verb cause is all about the action of producing an effect, like when you slice onions and it causes your eyes to water.
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The sudden pain in the chest, limbs, back and joints - from a lack of blood circulation - may cause organ damage.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Which brings me back to psychopaths, who simply can’t see that their actions cause harm or just don’t care.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
This might cause brief confusion for businesses shipping goods during the window, but the bigger picture is unchanged.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
“A lot of people don’t know that radon gas is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.,”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The boy thought of asking his aunt to make another portion of rubber chicken so he and Maya-Jade could cause more trouble.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
Cosgrove is hopeful that with winter around the corner, relief is on the way: "Eventually they do stop 'cause it gets too cold and wet."
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
George Kamel: I think I’d rather go to the mafia than to my parents, ’cause it creates a really awkward dynamic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
“We let it go a little bit, ’cause we thought she might be out partying,” Gonzalez later told the Star-Telegram.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
“It’s funny, ‘cause I’ve had people recognize me, but majority of the time, their mindsets are on real estate.”
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026
I try not to breathe ’cause I’m pretty sure his breath would smell like Power Bars and Gatorade.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
The 12-hour procedure was to resolve an arteriovenous malformation, which is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels that causes seizures and can be fatal.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
These symptoms may develop when a tumor causes inflammation or partially blocks the bowel.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
The Dallas County Medical Examiner said the 69-year-old woman had died of natural causes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
“We know that texting and driving causes traffic collisions, so having something that’s an incentive as opposed to a penalty to incentivize you to drive safer — that’s a no-brainer,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
She had a long history of championing public causes.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
The arrival of the state-of-the-art facility and erasure of a field that featured the name of Kennedy, according to a complaint obtained by The Times, has caused him “reputational harm,” “embarrassment” and “humiliation.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Net profit at Dubai’s biggest bank rose 2.2%, as strong lending and customer activity helped it withstand the economic disruption caused by the war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Sickle cell disease is a lifelong illness, common in people of African descent, and caused by a faulty gene that produces unusually shaped red blood cells that can become stuck in blood vessels.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Businesses that caused "social harm" would be treated differently, he said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Major Puff followed his direction and saw something that caused him much confusion, followed quickly by fear.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
Citizens has said it plans to do more real-estate lending tied to specific areas such as data centers, though its pullback in offices is causing its overall commercial real-estate loan balance to fall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
This data is used alongside new maps, produced with the help of satellite imagery, showing the risk of causing river pollution on a field by field basis.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
A drone struck a generator in May near the UAE's Barakah nuclear plant, the Arab world's only such facility, causing a fire.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
As that warm blob of ocean water hugs the coast of South America, it heats the air above, causing the pressure to drop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Meanwhile, the British “hunger-blockade,” as the Germans called it, was causing mounting demands for peace.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.