cause célèbre

• cause celebre (US)

From French cause (“cause, case”) + célèbre (“famous”), in the title of an 18th-century compilation of famous legal cases, Causes célèbres.[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːz sɛˈlɛbɹ(ə)/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔz səˈlɛb/, /-ˈlɛbɹə/, sometimes /-ˈlɛbɹeɪ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (like French) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊz seɪˈlɛbɹ(ə)/

cause célèbre (plural causes célèbres)

1. (chiefly UK) An issue or incident (originally, a legal case) arousing widespread controversy or public debate.
   • 2021 February 15, Jack Nicas, “Parler, a Social Network That Attracted Trump Fans, Returns Online”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     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.

• cause célèbre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “cause célèbre”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cause célèbre”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “cause celebre”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.