causal relationship
A relationship between one variable and another or others such that a change in one variable effects a change in the other variable. A cause-and-effect relationship is claimed where the following conditions are satisfied: the two events occur at the same time and in the same place; one event immediately precedes the other; the second event appears unlikely to have happened without the first event having occurred. Many phenomena exhibit close association, but they may not have a cause-and-effect relationship. See also correlation.
