causal

[ kaw-zuhl ]

adjective

1. of, constituting, or implying a cause.
2. Grammar. expressing a cause, as the conjunctions because and since.

causal

/ ˈkɔːzəl /

adjective

1. acting as or being a cause
2. stating, involving, or implying a cause

   the causal part of the argument

3. philosophy (of a theory) explaining a phenomenon or analysing a concept in terms of some causal relation

Derived Forms

• ˈcausally, adverb

Other Words From

• causal·ly adverb
• non·causal adjective
• non·causal·ly adverb
• super·causal adjective
• un·causal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of causal¹

1520–30; < Latin causālis, equivalent to caus ( a ) cause + -ālis -al ¹

Example Sentences

Because nothing, not even information, can travel faster than light, the edge of this circle is a hard boundary on the causal influence of the original event.

From MIT Technology Review

The AI community is realizing how important causal reasoning could be for machine learning and are scrambling to find ways to bolt it on.

From MIT Technology Review

A team led by David Lyons, a behavioral neuroscientist at Stanford University, reported causal evidence last November in Scientific Reports.

From Science News

A direct causal relationship between the coronavirus crisis and piracy is yet to be established.

From Ozy

Its performance is unreliable, causal understanding is shaky, and incoherence is a constant companion.

From MIT Technology Review

The connection between acts of “coming out” and the cultural acceptance of LGBT people has always been a causal one.

From The Daily Beast

"The causal effects estimated in Meier et al. are likely to be overestimates and the true effect could be zero," Rogeberg wrote.

From The Daily Beast

But the electioneering insinuations are a quick and dirty causal leap.

From The Daily Beast

But as Justice Ginsberg pointed out in dissent, their causal nexus is so thin as to be basically nonexistent.

From The Daily Beast

It is also important to contextualize how many cases of autism could be accounted for if a causal link to SSRI proved true.

From The Daily Beast

As causes precede effects, the causal order and the time order generally coincide.

From Project Gutenberg

The empirical law derives whatever truth it has, from the causal laws of which it is a consequence.

From Project Gutenberg

The really scientific truths, then, are not these empirical laws, but the causal laws which explain them.

From Project Gutenberg

The dualism is not primarily as to the stuff of the world, but as to causal laws.

From Project Gutenberg

The first act is thus for us, the thinkers, not a part of the causal events, but a purposive intention towards an ideal.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• creative
• imaginative
• innovative
• inventive
• seminal
• unconventional
• unusual