Causality Meaning
/kɔːˈzæl.ɪ.tɪ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe agency of a cause; the action or power of a cause, in producing its effect.
nounThe relationship between something that happens or exists and the thing that causes it; the cause and consequence relationship.
Sentence Examples
What we speak of as 'causality' is nothing more than the phenomenon of repetition.
The direction of causality is yet to be determined.
CEFR Practice Quiz
In philosophy, the principle of ____ suggests every event has a cause.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The principle of ____ states that every effect must have a clear cause.
Word Origin & History
From Latin as if *causalitas, from causalis (“causal”), from causa (“cause”). By surface analysis, causal + -ity = cause + -ality.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"But how do transformations like the evolution of language take place? A scientist looks for a cause inside time; a mystic knows that causality is essentially a process that is outside time-space."
— 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 94:
"But some discussion of the complex relationship between “allohistory” and sf is appropriate here, as the genres overlap in certain ways. Classical allohistory— such as Trevelyan's "What if Napoleon had won the Battle of Waterloo?" and Churchill's "If Lee had not won the Battle of Gettysburg" —is a rigorously consistent thought-experiment in historical causality."
— 2011 February 1, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction, Wesleyan University Press, →ISBN, pages 102–103:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
In philosophy, the principle of ____ suggests every event has a cause.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The principle of ____ states that every effect must have a clear cause.