causal

[ kaw-zuhl ]

/ ˈkɔ zəl /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for causal on Thesaurus.com

adjective

of, constituting, or implying a cause.

Grammar. expressing a cause, as the conjunctions because and since.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of causal

1520–30; <Latin causālis, equivalent to caus(a) cause + -ālis-al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM causal

caus·al·ly, adverbnon·caus·al, adjectivenon·caus·al·ly, adverbsu·per·caus·al, adjective

un·caus·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use causal in a sentence

D’Amour, who has a background in causal reasoning, wanted to know why his own machine-learning models often failed in practice.
The way we train AI is fundamentally flawed|Will Heaven|November 18, 2020|MIT Technology Review
It has also researched ways to create machine-learning systems that are better at figuring out causal relationships in data, not just correlations.
He’s worried A.I. may destroy humanity. Just don’t confuse him with Elon Musk|Jeremy Kahn|November 13, 2020|Fortune
The correlation between the two seems as though it probably has a causal link.
Can Google searches predict where coronavirus cases will soon emerge?|Philip Bump|October 29, 2020|Washington Post
Either way, he thinks that AGI will not be achieved unless we find a way to give computers common sense and causal inference.
Artificial general intelligence: Are we close, and does it even make sense to try?|Will Heaven|October 15, 2020|MIT Technology Review

As a result, smell emerged as a promising molecular model to think about GPCRs—the target of about half of all drug studies—and the causal principles governing their functional interactions.
Our Mind-Boggling Sense of Smell - Issue 91: The Amazing Brain|Ann-Sophie Barwich|October 14, 2020|Nautilus
The opinion of virtually every health care economist I have ever met is that those two things are causally related.
Facts, Damned "Facts", and Fact Checkers|Megan McArdle|October 5, 2012|DAILY BEAST
To understand the psyche causally, means to understand but half of it.
Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology|C. G. Jung
Is value a thing which determines causally exchange relations, or is value determined causally by them?
Social Value|B. M. Anderson
Facts do not appear as causally connected, nor, if they did, would this guarantee that they will continue to do so in the future.
Pragmatism|D.L. Murray
An obsession may be of idiopathic origin, or it may be causally connected with some particular incident, sensation, or emotion.
Tics and Their Treatment|Henry Meigne
To know that one kind of thing is causally independent of another, we must know that it actually occurs without the other.
Our Knowledge of the External World as a Field for Scientific Method in Philosophy|Bertrand Russell

British Dictionary definitions for causal

causal

/ (ˈkɔːzəl) /

adjective

acting as or being a cause

stating, involving, or implying a causethe causal part of the argument

philosophy (of a theory) explaining a phenomenon or analysing a concept in terms of some causal relation

Derived forms of causal

causally, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

causal

Origin of causal

OTHER WORDS FROM causal

Words related to causal

How to use causal in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for causal

Derived forms of causal