casus belli (KAY-suhs BEL-y, BEL-ee) noun, plural casus belli

   An action or event that causes or is used to justify starting a war.

[From New Latin casus belli, from Latin casus, occasion, belli, genitive of
bellum, war.]

   "RAI's news operations are still heavily politicized, with every channel
   following a political bent and news editors' appointments becoming a
   casus belli for political battles."
   Yaroslav Trofimov, RAI Chief Turns State Network Into Modern Firm,
   The Wall Street Journal, Dec 13, 2000.

This week's theme: words from war.

............................................................................
Every civilizing step in history has been ridiculed as 'sentimental',
'impractical', or 'womanish', etc., by those whose fun, profit or
convenience was at stake. -Joan Gilbert (1931- )

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Language is a city to the building of which
every human being brought a stone." Invite your friends and family to join
in the quest by sending a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day. It is free!
http://wordsmith.org/awad/gift.html

Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/casus_belli.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/casus_belli.ram