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-shuhn] /kɔˈzæl ɪ ti ˌvaɪ ə leɪ ʃən/ .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.

Origin of causality paradox

1
First recorded in 1910–15

Words Nearby causality paradox

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

Scientific definitions for causality paradox

causality paradox

[ kô-zălĭ-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).

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