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

That idea came from imperfect studies that largely didn’t include younger people and couldn’t prove cause and effect. —Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 13 Aug. 2025

Each perspective offers a different sequence of cause and effect. —Petar Popovski, IEEE Spectrum, 13 Aug. 2025

The as-yet-nameless Vezda lifeform wouldn't be much cop as baddies if their prison — where dimensions cross over, and normal concepts of cause and effect are turned upside down — was enough to hold them. —Richard Edwards, Space.com, 7 Aug. 2025

The protagonist Melba lives in Dan, a sleepy village where the rules of physics, grammar, and cause and effect have all quietly retired. —Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cause and effect

• affect
• aspect
• bedecked
• bisect
• collect
• connect
• correct
• deflect
• detect
• direct
• dissect
• eject