cause célèbre
noun
any controversy that attracts great public attention, as a celebrated legal case or trial.
causes célèbres
-
pluralof cause célèbre.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Only since the advent of blogs and social media, however, have average Janes been transformed into viral causes célèbres overnight.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2018
Over the next few decades the Scottsboro Boys, as they were known, became causes célèbres of the civil rights movement—their case twice advanced to the Supreme Court.
From Time ● Jun. 26, 2015
As word of their case spread abroad, they fast became international causes célèbres, gathering support from human rights groups and musicians including Bjork, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Patti Smith and Pete Townshend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2014
These, with the position of the parties concerned, rendered the suit worthy of being placed among the records of causes célèbres.
From The Finger of Fate A Romance by Mayne Reid
Of these causes célèbres nothing is known worthy of mention here.
From The Apologia and Florida of Apuleius of Madaura by Harold Edgeworth Butler
