cause and effect

noun

plural causes and effects

: the direct relationship between an action or event and its consequence or result

There was an accident, so traffic was at a standstill. The gravitational pull of the moon causes the tides of the ocean. I stuck to a training plan, so I finished my race strong. Cause and effect is a concept we all learn in grade school, and we see it play out in hundreds of circumstances every day.

—Ben Gibson

"Human nature is to look for cause and effect," says Robert Baloh, professor of neurology and head and neck surgery at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. … "I see this daily when I see patients. They're all sure something they ate or something they did caused their problem and their symptoms."

—Frank Bures

… focused on observable and verifiable causes and effects in the natural world …

—Rafi Eis

Examples of cause and effect in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There may be no way today to prove cause and effect with your particular vaccine injury. —Kizzmekia S. Corbett-Helaire, STAT, 11 June 2024

The framework also has implications for understanding the tricky question of cause and effect in complex and emergent systems. —Quanta Magazine, 10 June 2024

Just fill it with water and then set it on a flat surface, like a high chair tray or the floor, and watch your baby pat it and move the little fish inside (which also introduces them to cause and effect). —Ashley Ziegler, Parents, 8 June 2024

Tackling climate change causes and effects Palm’s is one of two bills that have been the purview of the Environment Committee. —Jan Ellen Spiegel, Hartford Courant, 23 Apr. 2024

The problem is that this evidence came mostly from observational studies, a type of analysis that can't show cause and effect and that might produce misleading results, Manson says. —Christie Aschwanden, Scientific American, 1 Jan. 2024

And, in a complicated chain of cause and effect, the fact that both homeowners and renters are staying put has worked to keep inflation high. —Don Lee, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2024

The Best Bath Toys That Won't Get All Moldy Bright Starts Press & Glow Spinner $14 Buy on Target $14 Buy on Walmart $14 Teach your kiddo cause and effect with the Bright Starts Press & Glow Spinner. —Maya Polton, Parents, 11 May 2024

But the evidence is observational and doesn't prove cause and effect. —Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 23 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined above