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.
But scientists who have spoken to the BBC say they are confident that, at least in some cases, school absence is playing a key causal role.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Both Kissei and Amgen said the deaths included cases for which no causal link to the medicine could be determined.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Studies examining these causal effects are currently underway.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
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
There are many confounding factors, however, and whether there’s any causal relation between the two phenomena is unclear, as is its direction, if there is one.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
