noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The science that explains, by the law of causation, the past condition and changes of the Earth. archaic, uncountable
2. 2
   the explanation of past events in terms of scientific causes (as geological causes) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

applicationarrogationassignationassignmentattachmentblame

Etymology

From palaeo- + aetiology. Coined by William Whewell.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.