Definition of "because of" [because of]

• On account of; by reason of. (preposition)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Iraq is still seething from the 2007 shooting by guards from the security firm then called Blackwater Worldwide, which left 17 people dead but could not be prosecuted by Iraq courts because of an immunity deal at the time."
• "I remembered Grace mostly because of one morning spent at Higgins Beach, not far from where I now sat with Jack Mercier."
• "The story had merited more coverage than usual only because of Peltier's former connections to Jack Mercier."