A root cause is an initiating cause of either a condition or a causal chain that leads to an outcome or effect of interest. The term denotes the earliest, most basic, 'deepest', cause for a given behavior; most often a fault.

What is an example of root cause?

For example, a broken wrist hurts a lot but the painkillers will only take away the pain not cure the wrist; you'll need a different treatment to help the bones to heal properly. In this example, the problem is a broken wrist, the symptom is pain in the wrist and the root cause is broken bones.

How do you use root cause?