adjective
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acting as or being a cause
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stating, involving, or implying a cause
the causal part of the argument
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philosophy (of a theory) explaining a phenomenon or analysing a concept in terms of some causal relation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of causal
1520–30; < Latin causālis, equivalent to caus ( a ) cause + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
Have you ever heard the saying "One thing leads to another"? When one thing is known for certain to cause another thing, then the first thing can be called causal. Causal is a variation of the word cause, which should be a clue to its meaning. A cause is what makes something happen: the notebook flew across the room because you threw it, so your throwing it was causal. If a bolt of lightning set a statue on fire, the lightning was causal for the fire. Sometimes, we don't know what caused something, so we don't know what was causal. But if you can figure out "Who did it?" or "What did it?," then you've found what's causal.
Vocabulary lists containing causal
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
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Society and Solitude
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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.
The study, "Causal modeling of gene effects from regulators to programs to traits," appears in the December 10, 2025 issue of Nature.
From Science Daily • Dec. 16, 2025
Causal power can’t be simulated but must be constituted.
From Scientific American • Sep. 8, 2023
Causal fallacy: claiming or implying that an event that follows another event is the result of it.
From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021
Causal relationships will be more difficult to establish than for iCJD given the high prevalence of AD and related pathologies, as well as the frequency of surgical procedures, in an ageing population.
From Nature • Nov. 8, 2016
Causal Clause.—Should the cause of an action or an occurrence be attractive enough for the first line, a for or a because clause may begin the lead.
From Newspaper Reporting and Correspondence A Manual for Reporters, Correspondents, and Students of Newspaper Writing by Hyde, Grant Milnor
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.
