Meaning & use
cause for concern
Last updated
Meanings
phrasefixed phrase
A reason to feel worried or to take a problem seriously.
Grammar: Often follows be or give: there is cause for concern.
Patterns
- be cause for concern
- give cause for concern
- no cause for concern
The rise in the river level is cause for concern.
Doctors said the test results were no cause for concern.
The sudden drop in sales gave the board cause for concern.
nouncountable or uncountable
A particular thing that makes people uneasy or anxious.
Grammar: Can be used with an or the: a cause for concern.
Patterns
- a cause for concern
- a serious cause for concern
Her missed classes were a cause for concern.
The strange noise from the engine was a clear cause for concern.
One cause for concern is the lack of clean water.
Word forms
| plural | causes for concern |
|---|
Common combinations
- no cause for concern
- The nurse said there was no cause for concern.
- serious cause for concern
- The data is a serious cause for concern.
- give cause for concern
- His silence gave cause for concern.
- a growing cause for concern
- Pollution is a growing cause for concern.
- major cause for concern
- The delays are a major cause for concern.
Synonyms and how they differ
- worry
- Worry is a feeling or a problem and is more informal, while cause for concern points to the reason for the worry.
- alarm
- Alarm is stronger and suggests sudden fear, whereas cause for concern is milder and more measured.
- red flag
- A red flag is a warning sign of a likely problem, and it is more informal and more specific.
- problem
- A problem is simply something wrong, but cause for concern says the situation deserves attention.
Opposites
Word family
- concern noun
- worry, or something that matters to you
- concern verb
- to worry someone or to be about something
- concerned adjective
- worried or interested
- concerning adjective
- causing worry
Commonly confused: cause for concern or cause of concern?
cause for concern vs cause of concern
This is a variant that some people use, but cause for concern is the standard and more common wording.
Practice
The doctor told the parents that the small fever was no ___ concern.
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase is cause for concern. Cause of concern is less standard, and reason in and cause to do not form the phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cause for concern”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.