A causal, complementary, parallel, or reciprocal relationship, especially a structural, functional, or qualitative correspondence between two comparable entities: a correlation between drug abuse and crime.
Statistics The simultaneous change in value of two numerically valued random variables: the positive correlation between cigarette smoking and the incidence of lung cancer; the negative correlation between age and normal vision.
An act of correlating or the condition of being correlated.
[Medieval Latin correlātiō, correlātiōn- : Latin com-, com- + Latin relātiō, relation, report (from relātus, past participle of referre, to carry back; see relate).] cor're·la'tion·al adj.
The relationship between two variables during a period of time, especially one that shows a close match between the variables' movements. For example, all utility stocks tend to have a high degree of correlation because their share prices are influenced by the same forces. Conversely, gold stock price movements are not closely correlated with utility stock price movements because the two are influenced by very different factors. The concept of correlation is frequently used in portfolio analysis. See also serial correlation.
[kawr-uh-ley-shuh
n, kor-] 