The phrase "a chief cause of" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to identify a primary reason or factor contributing to a particular outcome or situation.
Example: "The researchers concluded that pollution is a chief cause of the decline in bee populations."
Alternatives: "a primary reason for" or "a major factor in".
This discrimination is widely accepted … by official assessments, as a chief cause of agitation.
Since then, conservatives have often pointed to teachers unions as a chief cause of school inadequacy.
After all, the migration from carbohydrates to meats and such has been cited as a chief cause of havoc at companies like Krispy Kreme and Interstate Bakeries.
Such systems are thought to be the most effective way to flag errors in drug dosage, which is a chief cause of medical mistakes.
The "investment hunger" of the SOEs, which borrow cheaply from state banks as well as recycle outsized profits, is a chief cause of China's unbalanced development.
It imposes tough terms on future union contracts, a chief cause of Detroit's financial malaise, and insists that all existing contracts, even those recently ratified, can be reopened.
For generations, states across the nation banned the sale of liquor on Sundays with so-called Blue Laws, stubborn reminders of a time when demon drink was considered a scourge, the chief cause of society's ills.
He makes a murky argument that "the chief cause of reality television" is a cynical public that has "come to associate artistic pretense with entrepreneurial misrepresentation".
For a Gulf state, this is lively stuff.The chief cause of change in Qatar, however, is an ocean of gas.
Failure to complete an appropriate course of chemotherapy for tuberculosis is the chief cause of antibiotic resistance and a substantial cause of morbidity and mortality from tuberculosis.
"Texts will cost £3, standard network charges will also apply, ask billpayer's permission … " This is an appalling result for Labour, not least since disaffected Labour voters – those who stayed at home as much as those who put a cross against BNP – are the chief cause of Nick Griffin's modest success (he actually lost votes in the north-west).
