(countable, obsolete) Any subject of discussion or debate; a matter; an affair.
(countable, law) A suit or action in court; any legal process by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he regards as his right; case; ground of action.
“Jerry and George inadvertently join a group of white supremacists in a limo, and unbeknownst to them, their presence will be the cause of a local protest.”
“Driving under the influence of alcohol was the cause behind the collision.”
“The Joker has been the cause of destruction in Gotham City for as long as Bruce can remember.”
“Like causatives and desideratives, denominatives follow the inflection of thematic verbs of the Present System.”
“The fact that some idioms are restricted to causatives, while others are restricted to inchoatives, lends new support to the view that the two derivations are distinct.”
“Verbs comprise verbal roots, but also their variations with prefix strings of preverb particles, and secondary formations for causatives, intensives and desideratives.”