causal

UK/ˈkɔːzəl/

adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,808 of 15,258mostly written

Causal means to do with one thing bringing another about. A causal link, causal relationship, no causal connection.

The whole of science turns on the difference between a causal link and a correlation, since two things moving together need not be connected at all. It is a different word from casual, and the letters catch out everybody.

Definitions of causal

1adjectivecausalTo do with one thing bringing another about.C1
“Doctors suspect a causal relationship between poor sleep and weight gain.”

causal is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin causalis comes from causa, a cause.

Latin
causalis
English, today
causal

Latin causalis, from Latin causa (“cause”), equivalent to cause + -al, see cause.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

causal in the wild

In general, a process can have multiple causes, which are also said to be causal factors for it, and all lie in its past.
Causality
An effect can in turn be a cause of, or causal factor for, many other effects, which all lie in its future.
Causality
Ultimately, assumptions are always required to draw causal conclusions, and modern causal inference frameworks focus on interrogating the strength of these assumptions.
Correlation does not imply causation
While it is one of several forms of causal notation, causal networks are special cases of Bayesian networks.
Bayesian network
Therefore the sunny day causes me to score well on the test." Here is the example the two events may coincide or correlate, but have no causal connection.
Questionable cause

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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