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.

---

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

---

Pop Culture

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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Etymology

Origin of correlation

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

Explanation

Correlation is something that scientists are often trying to show––is there a correlation between smoking and poor health or between napping and productivity? How about daily flossing and good grades? Correlation derives from the Latin cor- 'together' and -relatio 'relation'––the word is all about things that go together. But beware: just because a study shows a correlation between two variables, it doesn't mean one necessarily causes the other. There is a significant correlation between going to high school and being a teenager, but that doesn't mean that going to high school causes you to be a teenager.

Example Sentences

“There is a very, very clear correlation between housing costs and homelessness, and that does not mean that drugs are not a factor. They absolutely are a factor.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026

Mr. Rock was highlighting the correlation between unemployment and crime, but public safety isn’t the only concern raised by a large population of idle young males.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 2, 2026

In addition, the oil-yield correlation has gradually weakened over the course of this month.

From Barron's • May 29, 2026

The correlation coefficient between the Dow and S&P 500 over the past 40 years, as well as over the past year, is 0.99, according to a MarketWatch analysis of FactSet Data.

From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026

Among the most interesting revelations in the data is the correlation between a baby’s name and the parents’ socioeconomic status.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Related Words

• interaction
• interrelationship
• parallel