correlation

especially British, co·re·la·tion

[kawr-uh-ley-shuhn, kor-]

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.

correlation

/ 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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of correlation¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of correlation¹

C16: from Medieval Latin correlātiō, from com- together + relātiō, _relation

Example Sentences

A recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis found a correlation between occupations with a higher prevalence of AI and increases in unemployment since 2022.

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But in this case, while it's hard to draw a direct line between the two, it's also hard not to conclude that there is some level of correlation.

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I found no statistically significant correlation between its level and the proportion of stock pickers beating the market.

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The bottom panel shows the rolling correlation of sentiment and stock market at its most negative ever.

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That’s according to a simple econometric model based on past correlations between the stock market’s winter performance, the year of the Presidential cycle, and the market’s strength in the prior summer.

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Related Words

• interaction 
• interrelationship www.thesaurus.com
• parallel