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.
Monitoring like FoodNet had previously been doing, is helpful, but it’s difficult to make direct causal connections based on what-ifs, no matter how likely.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
Approval seems likely, as long as full data confirms no causal signal for the adverse events, according to Stifel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
However, a written judgement approved by Employment Judge Dawn Shotter concluded "there was no causal connection between his disability and the gross misconduct Mr McGinty was accused of".
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Future studies will also use targeted manipulations of brain circuits to better understand the causal relationship between neural pathways and memory function.
From Science Daily ● May 30, 2026
But a skilled practitioner can use it to tell how meaningful a correlation is—and maybe even tell whether that correlation does indicate a causal relationship.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
