cause célèbre

American  

[kawz suh-leb-ruh, -leb, kohz sey-leb-r^uh] / ˈkɔz səˈlɛb rə, -ˈlɛb, koʊz seɪˈlɛb rə /

noun

causes célèbres plural

1. any controversy that attracts great public attention, as a celebrated legal case or trial.

---

cause célèbre British  

/ koz selɛbrə, ˈkɔːz səˈlɛbrə, -ˈlɛb /

noun

1. a famous lawsuit, trial, or controversy

---

cause célèbre Cultural  

1. A cause or issue, generally political, that arouses public opinion: “The question of the draft was a cause célèbre in the 1960s.” From French, meaning “celebrated cause.”

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• causes célèbres
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cause célèbre

First recorded in 1755–65; from French: literally, “famous case”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cause célèbre

While Sally’s children turn Champ’s legal troubles into a cause célèbre on social media, Sally and Corinne strategize about how to clear the terrier’s name.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026

Not surprisingly, the grave miscarriage of justice in his case has attracted national and international attention and made it a cause célèbre for people opposed to the death penalty and many supporters of capital punishment.

From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2024

State Department warned Brown that Chessman’s execution might inflame protesters during an upcoming trip President Eisenhower planned in Uruguay, where the prisoner was a cause célèbre.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2024

Lucio’s case has become a cause célèbre among people, including Kim Kardashian.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 16, 2024

Both of these weaknesses revealed themselves very amusingly in the Dreiser case, and I hope to detail their operations at some length later on, when I describe that cause célèbre in a separate work.

From A Book of Prefaces by Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)