correlation

American  

[kawr-uh-ley-shuhn, kor-] / ˌkɔr əˈleɪ ʃən, ˌkɒr- /

especially British, corelation

noun

1. mutual relation of two or more things, parts, etc..

   Studies find a positive correlation between severity of illness and nutritional status of the patients.

   Synonyms:

   interconnection, interrelationship, interdependence, equivalence, parallelism, correspondence, similarity

2. the act of correlating or state of being correlated.

3. Statistics. the degree to which two or more attributes or measurements on the same group of elements show a tendency to vary together.

4. Physiology. the interdependence or reciprocal relations of organs or functions.

5. Geology. the demonstrable equivalence, in age or lithology, of two or more stratigraphic units, as formations or members of such.

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correlation British  

/ ˌkɒrɪˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. a mutual or reciprocal relationship between two or more things

2. the act or process of correlating or the state of being correlated

3. statistics the extent of correspondence between the ordering of two variables. Correlation is positive or direct when two variables move in the same direction and negative or inverse when they move in opposite directions

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Pop Culture

—Pearson correlation coefficient: a value between -1 and +1 that represents the relationship between two variables.

Other Word Forms

• correlational adjective
• intercorrelation noun
• miscorrelation noun
• noncorrelation noun

Etymology

Origin of correlation

First recorded in 1555–65; from Medieval Latin: correlātiōn- (stem of correlātiō ); cor-, relation

Example Sentences

And because its payout is guaranteed, this bond portion would have virtually no correlation with the stock portion — thereby improving the 60/40 portfolio’s risk-adjusted performance.

From MarketWatch

With a positive correlation between visits and retail fixed-term sales, they hope for improved first-half retail sales that would benefit margins.

From The Wall Street Journal

U.S. stock-bond correlations could stay positive through 2026, giving room for gold allocations in portfolios to increase as investors could seek liquid alternatives, they say.

From The Wall Street Journal

But history suggests that this correlation exists only when focusing on long periods — measured over many decades, if not centuries.

From MarketWatch

It has 0% invested in technology and communication services, a low average P/E ratio of 12, strong returns, and little correlation with the S&P 500.

From Barron's

Related Words

• interaction
• interrelationship
• parallel