predestination paradox

[ pree-des-tuh-ney-shuhn par-uh-doks ]

noun

1. (in science fiction) a closed loop created by time travel, in which a person travels back in time and an action taken in the past, or the very act of traveling to the past, results in the timeline from which that person originated and from which their future self will travel, repeating in an infinite causal loop.

Word History and Origins

Origin of predestination paradox¹

First recorded in 1995–2000