Word.ws English Dictionary

cause célèbre

/ˈkɔːz sɛˈlɛbɹ(ə)//ˈkɔz səˈlɛb/

cause célèbre noun: an issue or incident (originally, a legal case) arousing widespread controversy or public debate.

Noun

cause célèbre (plural causes célèbres)

  1. (UK) An issue or incident (originally, a legal case) arousing widespread controversy or public debate.
    • Getting iced out by the tech giants turned Parler into a cause célèbre for conservatives who complained they were being censored, as well as a test case for the openness of the internet.2021 February 15, Jack Nicas, “Parler, a Social Network That Attracted Trump Fans, Returns Online”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2021
    • As Musk has waged this pressure campaign, he has incessantly posted in support of the far right in Europe and their current causes célèbres.2025 January 10, Ali Breland, “Elon Has Appointed Himself King of the World”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 11 Jan 2025

Forms of cause célèbre

pluralcauses célèbres
alternative UScause celebre

Origin of cause célèbre

From French cause (“cause, case”) + célèbre (“famous”), in the title of an 18th-century compilation of famous legal cases, Causes célèbres.

Questions about cause célèbre

What does cause célèbre mean?
Cause célèbre means an issue or incident (originally, a legal case) arousing widespread controversy or public debate.
What part of speech is cause célèbre?
Cause célèbre is a noun.
How do you pronounce cause célèbre?
Cause célèbre is pronounced /ˈkɔːz sɛˈlɛbɹ(ə)/ (UK).
What is the plural of cause célèbre?
The plural of cause célèbre is causes célèbres.

Words near cause célèbre in the dictionary

  1. Causbys
  2. cause
  3. cause a stir
  4. cause and effect
  5. cause celebre
  6. cause célèbre
  7. cause of action
  8. cause of death
  9. caused
  10. caused a stir
  11. causedness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cause célèbre (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-cause célèbre.ogg, En-us-cause-célèbre.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cause célèbre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cause_c%C3%A9l%C3%A8bre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.