correlation
Americannoun
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mutual relation of two or more things, parts, etc..
Studies find a positive correlation between severity of illness and nutritional status of the patients.
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the act of correlating or state of being correlated.
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Statistics. the degree to which two or more attributes or measurements on the same group of elements show a tendency to vary together.
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Physiology. the interdependence or reciprocal relations of organs or functions.
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Geology. the demonstrable equivalence, in age or lithology, of two or more stratigraphic units, as formations or members of such.
noun
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a mutual or reciprocal relationship between two or more things
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the act or process of correlating or the state of being correlated
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statistics the extent of correspondence between the ordering of two variables. Correlation is positive or direct when two variables move in the same direction and negative or inverse when they move in opposite directions
Pop Culture
—Pearson correlation coefficient: a value between -1 and +1 that represents the relationship between two variables.
Other Word Forms
- correlational adjective
- intercorrelation noun
- miscorrelation noun
- noncorrelation noun
Etymology
Origin of correlation
First recorded in 1555–65; from Medieval Latin: correlātiōn- (stem of correlātiō ); cor-, relation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But there has been a clear negative correlation between oil futures prices and airline stocks in recent years.
From MarketWatch
According to Hoedt, the correlation between cyclicals and defensive stocks is likely to break down soon, as defensive trades become crowded and expensive.
From MarketWatch
These electron correlations act like a fine tuning mechanism, allowing scientists to deliberately engineer unusual quantum states.
From Science Daily
One way around this is to invest in ETFs that include stocks of gold-mining companies, which tend to have a strong correlation with spot gold prices.
From Barron's
“Amid ongoing disinflation, the negative correlation between equities and bonds has returned, restoring Treasurys as a portfolio diversification and protection tool,” they say.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
