Dictionary

casus belli en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkeɪ.səs ˈbɛl.aɪ/
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌkɑː-/
• /-ˈbɛl.i/

Etymology

From Latin cāsus (“occasion”) + bellī (“for war”, literally “of war”).

Meanings

1. An act seen as justifying or causing a war; an act of war.
   • The Executive, however, can do many acts which would constitute a casus belli, and thus indirectly result in war; but this does not imply in the Executive a concurrent power to declare war, and the war which would result would be one declared by a foreign power. 1897, Congressional Record, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 664:
   • Had Saddam taken only the Rumaila oil field and the Bubiyan and Warba islands, there would have been no casus belli. 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 290:
   • Algiers seethed, and this was the casus belli for the ‘ultras’ to attempt a general strike. 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 309:
   • Furthermore, if the French had airily waved away one potential casus belli, more than enough causes of potential conflict remained embedded in the Aix-la-Chapelle Treaty. 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 138:
   • In ancient times, repeatedly failing to pay tribute by a vassal state was often used as a casus belli by the patron.
   • And Washington needs to communicate clearly with not only its allies but also the American public on the risks involved if spillover from Ukraine into Article 5 territory verges on a casus belli — an event that provokes a war. 2022 March 1, Mary Elise Sarotte, “I’m a Cold War Historian. We’re in a Frightening New Era.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

Translations (31)

ko 개전 리유 (act causing war) · ja 開戦事由 (act causing war) · fa بهانهٔ جنگ (act causing war) · tr savaş nedeni (act causing war) · ko 개전 이유 (act causing war) · pl casus belli (act causing war) · la cāsus bellī (act causing war) · cmn 開戰理由 /开战理由 (act causing war) · it casus belli (act causing war) · ar ذَرِيعَةُ الْحَرْبِ (act causing war) · uk ка́зус бе́ллі (act causing war) · el αφορμή πολέμου (act causing war) · fa کیسوس بللی (act causing war) · hy կազուս բելլի (act causing war) · fr casus belli (act causing war) · id casus belli (act causing war) · ka კაზუს ბელი (act causing war) · ru ка́зус бе́лли (act causing war) · de Kriegsgrund (act causing war) · be ка́зус бэ́лі (act causing war) · de Casus Belli (act causing war) · cmn 戰爭藉口 /战争借口 (act causing war) · fi sodan aihe (act causing war) · ko 전쟁 명분 (act causing war) · fi casus belli (act causing war) · tr harp sebebi (act causing war) · th เหตุแห่งสงคราม (act causing war) · pt casus belli (act causing war) · ca casus belli (act causing war) · bar Kasus Belli (act causing war) · ja 開戦理由 (act causing war)