"root cause" meaning in English

See root cause in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-root cause.ogg [Australia] Forms: root causes [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} root cause (plural root causes)
  1. (idiomatic) An initiating cause of a chain of events which leads to an outcome or effect of interest. Tags: idiomatic Derived forms: RCA Translations (initiating cause): төп сәбәп (töp səbəp) (Bashkir), grondoorzaak [feminine] (Dutch), perussyy (Finnish), juurisyy (Finnish), ძირეული მიზეზი (ʒireuli mizezi) (Georgian), Grundursache [feminine] (German), causa ultima [feminine] (Italian), causa scatenante [feminine] (Italian), ard-oyr [masculine] (Manx)
    Sense id: en-root_cause-en-noun-gsS28pBD Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 54

Verb

Audio: En-au-root cause.ogg [Australia] Forms: root causes [present, singular, third-person], root causing [participle, present], root caused [participle, past], root caused [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb}} root cause (third-person singular simple present root causes, present participle root causing, simple past and past participle root caused)
  1. (transitive) The action of identifying the cause of a chain of events which leads to an outcome or effect of interest. To root cause something's root cause does not necessarily imply the use of root cause analysis (RCA). Tags: transitive Synonyms: root-cause
    Sense id: en-root_cause-en-verb-b4dS-E-Y Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 54

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for root cause meaning in English (4.6kB)

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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
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      ],
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        {
          "ref": "2021 September 22, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Hitachi cracks due to fatigue and corrosion”, in RAIL, number 940, page 22",
          "text": "However, the report finds that the \"root cause has not yet been established\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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        "An initiating cause of a chain of events which leads to an outcome or effect of interest."
      ],
      "id": "en-root_cause-en-noun-gsS28pBD",
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        [
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          "effect",
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      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An initiating cause of a chain of events which leads to an outcome or effect of interest."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ba",
          "lang": "Bashkir",
          "roman": "töp səbəp",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "word": "төп сәбәп"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "grondoorzaak"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "word": "perussyy"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "word": "juurisyy"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "ʒireuli mizezi",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "word": "ძირეული მიზეზი"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Grundursache"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "causa ultima"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "causa scatenante"
        },
        {
          "code": "gv",
          "lang": "Manx",
          "sense": "initiating cause",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ard-oyr"
        }
      ]
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/En-au-root_cause.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "tags": [
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      "form": "root caused",
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          "ref": "2017, Charles Protzman, Joyce Kerpchar, George Mayzell, Leveraging Lean in Ancillary Hospital Services, CRC Press, page 108",
          "text": "Fishbones are a great tool for collecting, categorizing, and root-causing feedback from staff.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2018, Prabhat Mishra, Farimah Farahmandi, chapter 1, in Post-Silicon Validation and Debug, Springer, page 13",
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        "(transitive) The action of identifying the cause of a chain of events which leads to an outcome or effect of interest. To root cause something's root cause does not necessarily imply the use of root cause analysis (RCA)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "root-cause"
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      "tags": [
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  "sounds": [
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/En-au-root_cause.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "code": "ba",
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      "roman": "töp səbəp",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "word": "төп сәбәп"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "grondoorzaak"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "word": "perussyy"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "word": "juurisyy"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "ʒireuli mizezi",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "word": "ძირეული მიზეზი"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Grundursache"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "causa ultima"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "causa scatenante"
    },
    {
      "code": "gv",
      "lang": "Manx",
      "sense": "initiating cause",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ard-oyr"
    }
  ],
  "word": "root cause"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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