predestination paradox

American

[pree-des-tuh-nay-shuhn par-uh-doks] / priˌdɛs təˈneɪ ʃən ˌpær ə dɒks /

noun

(in science fiction) a closed loop created by time travel, in which a person travels back in time and an action taken in the past, or the very act of traveling to the past, results in the timeline from which that person originated and from which their future self will travel, repeating in an infinite causal loop.

First recorded in 1995–2000

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023