common cause

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
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

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
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • battle of the giants
  • at opposite poles
  • after you, my dear Alphonse
  • be in two places at once
  • at each other's throats
  • chalk and cheese
  • be at each other's throats
  • cling together
  • Box and Cox
  • between two fires
References in periodicals archive
The concluding chapter, which tracks the story of the 'common cause' through the post-Revolutionary decades, insists that the intensification of black slavery and Native dispossession after 1815 cannot be viewed as a declension narrative from the hopes of the Revolutionary era.
It can also reduce prostate size in men suffering from Benign Prostate Hyperplasia, a common cause of increased need to urinate.
The League and Common Cause asserted under a prior case that outgoing justices--and judges--terms actually don't end until the end of Tuesday, January 8 (assuming they don't retire earlier).
Another common cause of fatigue failure is contamination, which can also be introduced during mounting --or may even be in place from a previous bearing failure.
Seventy-eight per cent of people with arthritis experience pain every day, while one in four suffers from the most common cause of disability for over 20 years.
As for Labour, uniting in a common cause does not look to be likely any time soon.
"Norovirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis (stomach bugs) in Wales.
Tuberculosis was the most common cause of lymphadenopathy.
Norovirus, the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States, causes 19-21 million illnesses and contributes to 56,000-71,000 hospitalisations and 570-800 deaths annually.
Wronski considers an idea about common cause that possesses a probabilistic formulation and was introduced in the form of a general principle by Hans Reichenback his posthumously published book The Direction of Time (1956).
Public watchdog Common Cause believes that the FCC did not live up to its mission in its refusal to act on petitions alleging that a pair of television stations allowed political ads to run without proper sponsor identification.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common cause of irregular palpitations.
The bench was hearing a plea filed by NGO Common Cause, which had sought a stay on the selection process for the chairperson and members of the Lokpal.
Findings from a 15-year study published in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, a journal of the Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology, indicate that human error is the most common cause of infant asphyxiation at birth.
Conclusion: This study concluded that most common cause of pancytopenia is Megaloblastic anemia, followed by acute myeloid leukemia and aplastic anemia.