the root cause

root cause

The most fundamental, central, or basic causal element of something. Violence in this part of town is rampant, but the root cause is really poverty and the wide distribution of narcotics. You're never going to solve your company's financial issues if you can't identify the root cause of your flagging sales.
See also: cause, root
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the ˌroot ˈcause (of something)

the main cause of something, such as a problem or difficult situation: Poverty is the root cause of most of the crime in the city.
See also: cause, root
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • root cause
  • get to the root of (something)
  • get to the root of something
  • root in
  • root (something) in (something)
  • root up
  • ground on (something)
  • pull for
  • pull for (someone or something)
  • in your element
References in periodicals archive
'You know most of the time they talk about insecurity, we don't sit down to look at the root cause of the problem.
As topical steroids treat only the surface symptoms, patients are often encouraged to seek out and fix the root cause of their dermatitis.
For decades, MDA has funded research aimed at the discovery of genes causing neuromuscular disease and has supported work to develop therapies that address the root cause of disease.
He said the root cause of large number of children infected with AIDS must be detected.
Summary: Tokyo [Japan], December 26 (ANI): Japan, which is one of the largest gaming market in the world, has found the root cause for the poor eyesight of the its young students - smartphones.
'From the military-centric approach that gave us our recent successes against the communist movement, we now shift to a new civilian-led approach that will tap other government agencies and other private sector in bringing basic services and other development interventions that will address the root cause of the communist movement,' he said.
But when packaging line managers find waste, do they treat the symptoms of the problem or do they treat the root cause of the problem?
The issue can only be tackled by weeding out the root cause behind it.
Michaelis notes that there is often enough data available to reach the root cause, yet "there is a lack of knowledge and time to read this data correctly."
A weak corrective action system is often due to a fault in one of the two main components: the root cause investigation and effectiveness check.
Kashmir issue is the root cause of the prevailing uncertainty in South Asia, hence, India needs to oblige its commitment which they have pledged in international forums,' he added.
In order to solve the problem within an automotive industry or any other related field, the best way to understand the root cause of the problem is to physically go to the source or Gemba (place of occurrence) to analyze the root cause.
This meant healthcare organizations, which had the largest absolute number of unintended disclosures of all organization categories, also had by far the most cases for which the root cause of the disclosure was unknown.
All of these questions assist in identifying the root cause. Risk identification and analysis should be done early in the risk management process.