cause

{{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}}

noun

1 sb/sth that makes sth happen

ADJECTIVE

▪ real, root, true, underlying

▪

the root cause of the problem

▪ deeper

▪

A deeper cause for resentment is the discrepancy in pay.

▪ biggest, chief, clear, fundamental, important, leading, main, major, number-one, primary, prime, principal, significant

▪ common

▪

Smoking is a common cause of premature death.

▪ likely, possible, probable

▪ known, unknown

▪ direct, indirect

▪ immediate, initial

▪ contributory

▪ hidden

VERB + CAUSE

▪ determine, discover, find, identify, pinpoint, reveal

▪

attempts to identify the immediate cause of the breakdown

▪ examine, investigate, study

▪ know, understand

▪ address

CAUSE + VERB

▪ be, lie in sth, remain

▪

What are the causes of the crisis?

▪

The real cause of the problem lies in the poor construction of the bridge.

PREPOSITION

▪ cause of

▪

the causes of blindness

PHRASES

▪ cause and effect

▪ the cause of death

▪ due to natural causes, from natural causes, of natural causes

▪

He died of natural causes.

▪ the exact cause of sth, the precise cause of sth

▪

The precise cause of the accident is not known.

▪ have many causes, have several causes, have various causes

2 reason

ADJECTIVE

▪ good, great, real, reasonable, sufficient

VERB + CAUSE

▪ have

▪

We have good cause to believe that he was involved in the crime.

▪ find

▪

The experts may find cause to disagree with the school's decision.

▪ give (sb)

▪

Her health is giving us great cause for concern.

▪ show

▪

The onus is on government departments to show cause why information cannot be disclosed.

PREPOSITION

▪ cause for

▪

There is no cause for alarm.

PHRASES

▪ cause for concern, with good cause, without good cause, without just cause

3 aim that people believe in

ADJECTIVE

▪ deserving, good, just, noble, righteous (esp. AmE), worthwhile, worthy

▪

The money she left went to various worthy causes.

▪ favourite/favorite, pet (AmE)

▪ bad, unjust

▪ common

▪

The different groups support a common cause.

▪ hopeless, lost (= one that has failed or that cannot succeed)

▪ charitable, environmental, humanitarian, political, social

▪ communist, conservative, liberal, socialist, etc.

VERB + CAUSE

▪ advance, champion, embrace, fight for, further, help, promote, serve, support

▪

young men willing to fight for the cause

▪

She would do anything that would further the cause.

▪ be committed to, be sympathetic to

▪ join, take up

▪

She has taken up the liberal cause.

▪ plead

▪

He pleaded the cause of the local fishermen.

PREPOSITION

▪ for the cause of, in the cause of

▪

They were not prepared to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the country.

▪

battles fought in the cause of decentralization

▪ in a/the cause

▪

prominent figures in the socialist cause

PHRASES

▪ (all) for a good cause (esp. AmE), (all) in a good cause (esp. BrE)

▪

The function took a lot of organizing, but was all for/in a good cause.

{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}

verb

Cause is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑earthquake, ↑explosion, ↑factor, ↑flood, ↑fluctuation, ↑gene, ↑illness, ↑imbalance, ↑incident, ↑infection, ↑injury, ↑movement, ↑mutation, ↑parasite, ↑shortage, ↑stress, ↑virus

Cause is used with these nouns as the object: ↑abscess, ↑accident, ↑acne, ↑addiction, ↑agony, ↑ailment, ↑alarm, ↑allergy, ↑alteration, ↑amusement, ↑anarchy, ↑anger, ↑anguish, ↑annoyance, ↑antagonism, ↑anxiety, ↑apprehension, ↑argument, ↑attack, ↑backlash, ↑bankruptcy, ↑bitterness, ↑blast, ↑bleeding, ↑blockage, ↑bloodshed, ↑boom, ↑bother, ↑breach, ↑breakdown, ↑breakup, ↑build-up, ↑burn, ↑cancellation, ↑cancer, ↑casualty, ↑cataract, ↑catastrophe, ↑change, ↑chaos, ↑closure, ↑colic, ↑collapse, ↑collision, ↑comment, ↑commotion, ↑complication, ↑concern, ↑conflict, ↑confusion, ↑congestion, ↑consternation, ↑constipation, ↑contamination, ↑controversy, ↑convulsion, ↑corrosion, ↑crash, ↑crime, ↑crisis, ↑damage, ↑danger, ↑death, ↑decay, ↑decline, ↑decrease, ↑defect, ↑deficiency, ↑deformity, ↑dehydration, ↑delay, ↑demise, ↑depletion, ↑depression, ↑destruction, ↑deterioration, ↑devastation, ↑diarrhoea, ↑difficulty, ↑disability, ↑disagreement, ↑disappearance, ↑disaster, ↑discomfort, ↑discontent, ↑discord, ↑disease, ↑disillusionment, ↑dismay, ↑disorder, ↑dispute, ↑disruption, ↑dissatisfaction, ↑dissent, ↑distortion, ↑distraction, ↑distress, ↑disturbance, ↑division, ↑downfall, ↑drop, ↑drought, ↑earthquake, ↑embarrassment, ↑epidemic, ↑erosion, ↑error, ↑eruption, ↑excitement, ↑explosion, ↑extinction, ↑failure, ↑fall, ↑famine, ↑fatigue, ↑fear, ↑feeling, ↑fever, ↑fight, ↑fire, ↑fit, ↑flood, ↑fluctuation, ↑flutter, ↑frenzy, ↑friction, ↑frustration, ↑furore, ↑fury, ↑fuss, ↑grief, ↑hallucination, ↑handicap, ↑hardship, ↑harm, ↑havoc, ↑hazard, ↑headache, ↑hurt, ↑hysteria, ↑illness, ↑imbalance, ↑impotence, ↑incident, ↑inconvenience, ↑increase, ↑inefficiency, ↑inequality, ↑infection, ↑infertility, ↑inflammation, ↑inflation, ↑injury, ↑injustice, ↑instability, ↑irritation, ↑jealousy, ↑landslide, ↑leak, ↑leukaemia, ↑loss, ↑mess, ↑migraine, ↑miscarriage, ↑mischief, ↑misery, ↑mishap, ↑misunderstanding, ↑mortality, ↑mutation, ↑nausea, ↑obstruction, ↑offence, ↑outage, ↑outbreak, ↑outcry, ↑outrage, ↑pain, ↑panic, ↑paralysis, ↑pneumonia, ↑poisoning, ↑pollution, ↑problem, ↑rash, ↑reaction, ↑recession, ↑reduction, ↑relapse, ↑relaxation, ↑resentment, ↑revolt, ↑revulsion, ↑rift, ↑riot, ↑ripple, ↑row, ↑scandal, ↑scare, ↑scene, ↑sensation, ↑shame, ↑shift, ↑shortage, ↑sickness, ↑side effect, ↑smash, ↑sore, ↑sorrow, ↑spasm, ↑speculation, ↑split, ↑stagnation, ↑stink, ↑stir, ↑stoppage, ↑storm, ↑strain, ↑stress, ↑strife, ↑suffering, ↑surprise, ↑suspicion, ↑swelling, ↑symptom, ↑syndrome, ↑tension, ↑tornado, ↑traffic jam, ↑tragedy, ↑transformation, ↑tremor, ↑trouble, ↑turmoil, ↑uncertainty, ↑unease, ↑unemployment, ↑unhappiness, ↑unrest, ↑upheaval, ↑uproar, ↑upset, ↑vandalism, ↑vibration, ↑waste, ↑wave, ↑weakness, ↑wear, ↑worry, ↑wreck