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

Justice Department officials said testing all kits is not required because the causes and effects of the backlog vary by jurisdiction. —Gina Barton, USA TODAY, 5 Dec. 2024

Rather than try to crack the case with backstory providing psychological cause and effect, A Complete Unknown just lets Dylan be … unknown. —Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 25 Dec. 2024

The study could not separate cause and effect — whether faith promoted recovery or recovery promoted faith. —Moriah Ratner, New York Times, 24 Nov. 2024

The belief that certain factors definitively contributed to his death or that musical decisions served as warning signs suggests an unrealistic cause and effect, a logic that didn’t exist. —Daniela Avila, People.com, 27 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined above