Standard Lemma guide

causality

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: kôz
  • Received-Pronunciation: /kɔːˈzæl.ɪ.tɪ/
  • Received-Pronunciation: [khoːˈz̥æl.ɪ.tɪ]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /kɔˈzæl.ɪ.tɪ/
  • General-American: [khɒːˈz̥æl.ɪ.tɪ]
  • cot-caught-merger: /kɑˈzæl.ɪ.tɪ/
  • cot-caught-merger: [kɑˈzæl.ɪ.ɾɪ]
  • rhymes with -ælɪti
  • CMU ARPABET: K AO2 Z AA1 L IH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The agency of a cause; the action or power of a cause, in producing its effect.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The relationship between something that happens or exists and the thing that causes it; the cause and consequence relationship.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the relation between causes and effects

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: relation

History

Etymology

From Latin as if *causalitas, from causalis (“causal”), from causa (“cause”). By surface analysis, causal + -ity = cause + -ality.

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: سَبَبِيَّة (sababiyya) — agency of cause
  • Arabic: عليَة — agency of cause
  • Azerbaijani: səbəbiyyət — agency of cause
  • Breton: arbennelezh — agency of cause
  • Bulgarian: причинност (pričinnost) — agency of cause
  • Catalan: causalitat — agency of cause
  • Chinese Mandarin: 因果關係 /因果关系 (yīnguǒ guānxì) — agency of cause
  • Chinese Mandarin: 因果律 (yīnguǒlǜ) — agency of cause
  • Czech: příčinnost — agency of cause
  • Dutch: causaliteit — agency of cause
  • Dutch: oorzakelijkheid — agency of cause
  • Finnish: kausaliteetti — agency of cause
  • French: causalité — agency of cause
  • Galician: causalidade — agency of cause
  • German: Kausalität — agency of cause
  • Greek: αιτιότητα (aitiótita) — agency of cause
  • Hindi: कारणता (kāraṇtā) — agency of cause
  • Hindi: कार्यकारण (kāryakāraṇ) — agency of cause
  • Italian: causalità — agency of cause
  • Japanese: 因果律 (ingaritsu) — agency of cause
  • Kazakh: себеп-салдар қатынасы (sebep-saldar qatynasy) — agency of cause
  • Persian: علیت — agency of cause
  • Polish: przyczynowość — agency of cause
  • Portuguese: causalidade — agency of cause
  • Russian: причи́нность (pričínnostʹ) — agency of cause
  • Serbo-Croatian: uzročnost — agency of cause
  • Spanish: causalidad — agency of cause
  • Swedish: kausalitet — agency of cause
  • Swedish: orsakssammanhang — agency of cause
  • Thai: เหตุภาพ — agency of cause
  • Thai: ปัจจัยภาพ — agency of cause
  • Turkish: sebebiyet — agency of cause
  • Ottoman Turkish: سببیت — agency of cause
  • Urdu: سببیہ — agency of cause
  • Uzbek: sababiyat — agency of cause
  • German: Ursache und Wirkung — cause and consequence relationship
  • Greek: αιτιότητα (aitiótita) — cause and consequence relationship
  • Hindi: कारणता (kāraṇtā) — cause and consequence relationship
  • Hindi: कार्यकारण (kāryakāraṇ) — cause and consequence relationship
  • Hungarian: okság — cause and consequence relationship
  • Hungarian: ok-okozati viszony — cause and consequence relationship
  • Hungarian: ok-okozatiság — cause and consequence relationship
  • Hungarian: kauzalitás — cause and consequence relationship
  • Polish: przyczynowość — cause and consequence relationship
  • Russian: причи́нно-сле́дственная связь (pričínno-slédstvennaja svjazʹ) — cause and consequence relationship
  • Swedish: kausalitet — cause and consequence relationship
  • Swedish: orsakssammanhang — cause and consequence relationship