correlate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
adjective
noun
verb
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to place or be placed in a mutual, complementary, or reciprocal relationship
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(tr) to establish or show a correlation
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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intercorrelateverb (used with object)
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correlatableadjective
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noncorrelatingadjective
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uncorrelatedadjective
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uncorrelatedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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correlatesimple
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correlatessimple
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have correlatedperfect
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has correlatedperfect
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am correlatingprogressive
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are correlatingprogressive
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is correlatingprogressive
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have been correlatingperfect progressive
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has been correlatingperfect progressive
Past
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correlatedsimple
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had correlatedperfect
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was correlatingprogressive
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were correlatingprogressive
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had been correlatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of correlate
First recorded in 1635–45; probably back formation from correlation and correlative
Explanation
If you notice that crumbs appear on your little brother's shirt whenever the cookies disappear from the cookie jar, you can say that you've correlated two facts, meaning that you've established or revealed that they're linked in a way that explains both of them. Detectives correlate pieces of evidence in order to solve crimes. For example, they might correlate a suspect’s bandaged hand with a shattered third-floor window. Correlate can also be used as a noun. Some companies promote products by suggesting that their products increase “happiness correlates,” or factors that have been shown to have a relationship with happiness, like health and friendship.
Vocabulary lists containing correlate
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 1
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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ACT Vocabulary List
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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.
See Examples For:
The Pentagon list of publicly acknowledged boat strikes doesn’t closely correlate with the dates or details of the sinkings of the Ecuadorean boats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
“What we really correlate with wage growth is how employment is in that sector,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
"Previously, these models basically had random regions of polarization, but they didn't tell you how those regions correlate with each other," Xu says.
From Science Daily ● May 4, 2026
It’s impossible to correlate any one episode’s millions of “views” with support.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
They can correlate the samples with their locations later.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Meanwhile, the slight dip in unemployment correlates with a decline in labor-force participation.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2026
If time is money, and money is power, then who these characters spend their time with directly correlates to how wealthy and financially secure they can become.
From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2026
"It correlates strongly with countless athletic advantages, like size, muscle mass, bone mass and heart and lung capacity."
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026
“This rise in popularity correlates with increasing secularism and nationalism.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 10, 2026
This process correlates with the age of a person: the older we are, the shorter our telomeres, and the fewer times our cells have left to divide before they die.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
"Our number of calls tracks the temperature - it's a very correlated trend," says Dr John Martin, chief executive of the South West Ambulance Service.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
“A reassessment of these prospects could trigger a fall in equity prices that might be amplified by high concentration, correlated momentum-driven positions that can exacerbate volatility as markets fall, and increased leverage,” the BOE said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
They note that REITs offer diversification in a tech-dominated stock market with REITs the least correlated with tech of any industry group.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
In these extreme conditions, electrons behave collectively and enter a highly correlated quantum state.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026
At issue was how highly correlated the prices of various subprime mortgage bonds inside a CDO might be.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
That metric’s rise was a strong signal to buy TJX in the prepandemic era, correlating with its rise to dominance in off-price.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
I reached similar results when correlating the total market value of each year’s IPOs and the stock market’s subsequent 10-year return, as you can see in the chart above.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
Mr. Stob, a professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University, points out that “the idea of correlating outward appearance with interior mental abilities had been around for millennia.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
Reality TV is a young form of entertainment compared to film and pulp literature, each of which shows correlating phenomena in history.
From Salon ● May 31, 2025
The conception has the further merit of correlating gravitation with electricity, magnetism, and light, as a condition of that strange ethereal ocean of which modern physics takes so much account.
From A History of Science, Volume 5(of 5) Aspects Of Recent Science by Williams, Henry Smith
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.
