causality paradox

[ kaw-zal-i-tee par-uh-doks ]

noun

1. (in science fiction) the hypothetical contradiction of cause-and-effect in time travel and the potential disruption to a timeline resulting from changes in the past that affect the current reality, as in the grandfather paradox.
2. Also called cau·sal·i·ty vi·o·la·tion [kaw-, zal, -i-tee vahy-, uh, -ley-sh, uh, n]. Astrophysics. an effect that does not belong to the future light cone of its cause, or an effect occurring before the light cone of its cause, as the exchange of superluminal signals between distant observers who are in a relative motion receding one from another.

causality paradox

/ kô-zăl′ĭ-tē /

1. A paradox resulting from hypothetical time travel, in which an individual travels back in time and performs actions that would ultimately have made the time travel impossible (as by killing one's parents at a time preceding one's birth).

Word History and Origins

Origin of causality paradox¹

First recorded in 1910–15