transcription, транскрипция: [ kɔ:z ]
( causes, causing, caused)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
The cause of an event, usually a bad event, is the thing that makes it happen.
Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death and disease...
The causes are a complex blend of local and national tensions.
≠ effect
N-COUNT : oft N of n
2.
To cause something, usually something bad, means to make it happen.
Attempts to limit family size among some minorities are likely to cause problems...
This was a genuine mistake, but it did cause me some worry.
...a protein that gets into animal cells and attacks other proteins, causing disease to spread.
...the damage to Romanian democracy caused by events of the past few days.
VERB : V n , V n n , V n to-inf , V-ed
3.
If you have cause for a particular feeling or action, you have good reasons for feeling it or doing it.
Only a few people can find any cause for celebration...
Both had much cause to be grateful for the secretiveness of government in Britain.
= reason
N-UNCOUNT : N for n , N to-inf
4.
A cause is an aim or principle which a group of people supports or is fighting for.
Refusing to have one leader has not helped the cause.
N-COUNT
see also lost cause
5.
You use cause and effect to talk about the way in which one thing is caused by another.
...fundamental laws of biological cause and effect.
PHRASE
6.
If you say that something is in a good cause or for a good cause , you mean that it is worth doing or giving to because it will help other people, for example by raising money for charity.
The Raleigh International Bike Ride is open to anyone who wants to raise money for a good cause.
PHRASE