Correlations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The statistical links or relationships between multiple variables that demonstrate how they may affect each other in various contexts
2. The patterns or associations that emerge when two or more factors interact within data, revealing their interdependence
3. Connections or associations between variables showing how they change together

Etymology: "Correlations" is the plural of "correlation", which came into English from Middle French "corrélation". The French word is built from "correlate", a verb-and-noun formed from the Latin prefix "cor-" (a form of "com-", meaning "together" or "with") and "relatus", the past participle of "referre", to bring back or relate. The English "correlate" carries that sense of things brought into relation with one another, and the suffix "-ion" turns the action into a state or result. The word's modern statistical sense is a much later development. The core idea of mutual relation is old, but the technical meaning of a measurable link between variables took shape in the 19th century, when statisticians such as Francis Galton and Karl Pearson developed formal ways to quantify how closely two sets of measurements move together. Those methods gave the word the precise meaning it carries in science today.

Synonyms: connections, associations, relationships, linkages, interrelations

Antonyms: disconnections, dissociations, divergences