correlation

American  

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

especially British, corelation

noun

• correlations
  plural

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• correlations
  plural

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

See Examples For:

correlation correlations

That’s in part because there is a strong correlation between wealth and longevity in America.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

Though this correlation doesn’t amount to a guarantee, you should know that it is stronger statistically than many of the other indicators that get far more attention on Wall Street.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

“Whenever growth is this fast, there’s got to be some strong positive correlation between SG&A and revenue,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

It was Prof Sheryl van Nunen who discovered the link between MMA and ticks almost 20 years ago, after noticing a correlation in patients at her Sydney allergy clinic.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

Yet there is often a weak correlation between degrees of explicit and implicit bias; many people who think they are not biased prove when tested to have relatively high levels of bias.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

It is designed to identify correlations in where and when the photons appear, allowing it to reconstruct the original particle interaction.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026

Existing studies show correlations rather than proof that altered creatine metabolism directly causes depression, and the disorder itself involves many biological pathways.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 30, 2026

Ultimately, when a risk event occurs, dispersion unwinds and correlations between stocks and the index rise rapidly.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

Krishna at Barclays says that historically low correlations within the S&P 500 sectors suggest idiosyncratic earnings, while noting concentration changes stoked volatility.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

So if you just look at raw correlations between police and crime, you will find that when there are more police, there tends to be more crime.

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

Related Words

• interaction
• interrelationship
• parallel