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common cause

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common cause

Any interest, goal, or other motivating factor that is shared between two or more people, groups, or organizations. The two political parties, typically so divided on social issues, were united in the common cause of eliminating homelessness.

See also: cause, common

common cause

A joint interest, as in "The common cause against the enemies of piety" (from John Dryden's poem, Religio laici, or a Layman's Faith, 1682). This term originated as to make common cause (with), meaning "to unite one's interest with another's." In the mid-1900s the name Common Cause was adopted by a liberal lobbying group.

See also: cause, common