make common cause
make common cause verb: to cooperate, to enter into an alliance for a shared goal.
Verb
make common cause (third-person singular simple present makes common cause, present participle making common cause, simple past and past participle made common cause)
- To cooperate, to enter into an alliance for a shared goal.
- […] in a great community, the reformer has the voice and approbation of a majority to encourage him. In a very narrow circle he will have no part of the society, in which he lives, to support him against the rest. They will all make common cause against him, and sooner or later overcome his...1786, Philip Francis, Speech in the House of Commons, on Tuesday the 7th of March, 1786, London: J. Debrett, page 35
- They preferred endeavouring to alter the feelings of mankind on the particular points on which they were themselves heretical, rather than make common cause in defence of freedom, with heretics generally.1859, John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, London: John W. Parker & Son, Introductory, p. 18
- Synonyms:
- join forces, team up
make common cause meaning in Kannada
make common cause in Kannada
- ಏಕಾಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಹೊಂದು, ಒಡಗೂಡು, ಸೇರಿಕೊಳ್ಳು
Examples of make common cause in a sentence
- They will all make common cause against him, and sooner or later overcome his resolution, or break his heart.1786, Philip Francis, Speech in the House of Commons, on Tuesday the 7th of March, 1786, London: J. Debrett, page 35:
- You would think such people would make common cause, but it could just as often happen that they don’t.2009, Alice Munro, “Face”, in Too Much Happiness, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, page 145:
Synonyms of make common cause
Forms of make common cause
| third-person singular present | makes common cause |
|---|---|
| present participle | making common cause |
| past participle | made common cause |
| past | made common cause |
Origin of make common cause
Possibly a calque of French faire cause commune, first attested in the same period (1787).
Questions about make common cause
- What does make common cause mean?
- Make common cause means to cooperate, to enter into an alliance for a shared goal.
- What is make common cause in Kannada?
- Make common cause in Kannada is ಏಕಾಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಹೊಂದು, ಒಡಗೂಡು, ಸೇರಿಕೊಳ್ಳು. See Make common cause meaning in Kannada.
- How do you use make common cause in a sentence?
- They will all make common cause against him, and sooner or later overcome his resolution, or break his heart.
- What part of speech is make common cause?
- Make common cause is a verb.
- What is the past tense of make common cause?
- The past tense of make common cause is made common cause.
Words near make common cause in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: make common cause (page history and authors); make common cause (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
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Cite this entry: “make common cause.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/make_common_cause. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.