as in to create
to be the cause of (a situation, action, or state of mind) the ice storm caused a massive power outage
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in reason
someone or something responsible for a result the much-debated causes of the war
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in movement
a series of activities undertaken to achieve a goal joined the freedom fighters' cause as a young man
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cause
Dade Hayes, Deadline, 23 Apr. 2026 Quite possibly, something unexpected will occur that causes this. —Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 23 Apr. 2026
Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2026 The cause of death was not disclosed by the team. —Andrew Greif, NBC news, 17 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for cause
Verb
In some cases, like Viacom’s wayward run through the 2010s, companies can become obsessed with buybacks instead of investing in the company’s core businesses, which can end up causing long-term damage. —Dade Hayes, Deadline, 23 Apr. 2026 Quite possibly, something unexpected will occur that causes this. —Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 23 Apr. 2026
Noun
Investigators believe the cause was electrical, though the investigation is ongoing. —Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2026 The cause of death was not disclosed by the team. —Andrew Greif, NBC news, 17 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for cause
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cause
Verb
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This article was generated by the Bay Area Home Report Bot, software that analyzes home sales or other data and creates an article based on a template created by humans.— Bay Area Home Report, Mercury News, 18 Apr. 2026
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It was created nearly 20 years ago to help struggling vinyl stores when record sales were dying off.— Ashley Sharp, CBS News, 18 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But the status quo is upended by the arrival of Kyra Marshall (Anika Noni Rose), a woman with young kids who wants a stop sign for safety reasons.— Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 22 Apr. 2026
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If nerves come up, that’s part of the process, not a reason to stop.— Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 22 Apr. 2026
Noun
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As Mercury joins Mars in Aries in your 9th house, curiosity turns into action and ideas want movement from you.— Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 Apr. 2026
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Raphael has the rare distinction of having an entire aesthetic movement named after a desire to go back to a time before him.— Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Community members are asked to bring their own bags.— Ryan Hughes, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2026
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This thing that brings us into the world can so quickly be deemed indecent.— Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Moreover, since the risk of contracting HIV is closely linked to the social determinants of health, such as having safe and stable housing and employment, barriers to HIV testing could further widen health gaps.— Nathaniel M. Tran, The Conversation, 10 Apr. 2026
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High blood pressure is treatable, but despite having access to effective and affordable medications, more than half of Americans still have uncontrolled hypertension, with rates going up in sync with adverse social determinants of health.— Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, 8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Opponents have distributed campaign materials citing past statements from Obama and Spanberger criticizing gerrymandering, but those were before Trump pushed Republican states to redraw their congressional maps in advance of this year's midterms.— ABC News, ABC News, 21 Apr. 2026
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The campaign works to help nourish our neighbors, because everyone deserves access to fresh, nutritious food.— Elyssa Kaufman, CBS News, 21 Apr. 2026
Verb
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While in the region, Curiosity recently utilized its onboard Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite, built to search for compounds of the element carbon that are associated with life and investigate ways in which these compounds are generated and destroyed in the Martian ecosphere.— Leonard David, Space.com, 21 Apr. 2026
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This article was generated by the CA Earthquake Bot, software that analyzes structured information, such as data, and applies it to articles based on templates created by journalists in the newsroom.— CA Earthquake Bot, Sacbee.com, 21 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Rush’s dominance in the fan vote, however, was more correlation to their Rock Hall induction than causation.— Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 14 Apr. 2026
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The contest over causation goes to parents’ simultaneous senses of responsibility and helplessness about their children’s fates.— Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker, 9 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cause.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.grautoblog.com/thesaurus/cause. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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