karma
Americannoun
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Hinduism, Buddhism. action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation: in Hinduism one of the means of reaching Brahman.
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Theosophy. the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person's deeds in the previous incarnation.
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- Synonyms:
- kismet, lot, predetermination, predestination
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the good or bad emanations felt to be generated by someone or something.
Lets get out of here. This place has bad karma.
noun
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Hinduism Buddhism the principle of retributive justice determining a person's state of life and the state of his reincarnations as the effect of his past deeds
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theosophy the doctrine of inevitable consequence
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destiny or fate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of karma
First recorded in 1820–30; from Sanskrit kárman- “act, deed”
Explanation
The Hindu and Buddhist concept karma is what will happen to you in your next life based on what you do in this life. Performing kind acts in this life gives you good karma for your next life. To understand karma, it’s important to understand that in Hinduism and Buddhism, practitioners believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation is the idea that after you die, you are reborn into a new body and a new life. How good or bad that new life is depends on the karma you’ve accumulated in your previous lives. By this line of thinking, performing good acts in this life means that in your next life you might be born the princess of a tropical paradise.
Vocabulary lists containing karma
World Religions
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"As a Buddhist, I was taught to only do good deeds and good things, right? It's like karma, as the saying goes, 'you reap what you sow,'" she said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
I realized that even if siblings share the same parents and DNA, our thinking is completely different, which helped me believe in karma and reincarnation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
There’s a karma to these places: donate well-loved, gently used items, and never use thrift or resale shops as a trash bin.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2025
Many Thai men also choose to temporarily ordain as monks to accumulate good karma.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2025
Liyana’s mother believed a whole lot in karma, the Hindu belief that what someone does in this world will come back to him or her—maybe not the day after tomorrow, but eventually.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
