Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb With all other factors or things remaining the same.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Literally, other things being equal; being evenly matched in other respects; other conditions corresponding, etc.: as, ceteris paribus, a large man is generally stronger than a small one.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb
other things beingequal ; with all other things or factors remaining the same.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb all other things being equal
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[New Latin cēterīs paribus, with other things equal : Latin cēterīs, ablative pl. of cēterus, the other, the rest + Latin paribus, ablative pl. of pār, equal.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
New Latin cēterīs, the ablative plural of cēterus ("the other"), + pāribus, the ablative plural of pār ("equal").
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Examples
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This means that, ceteris paribus, regarding glaciers we stand to possibly lose 0.3% of the planetary ice in 600 years …
An Analysis of the TOPEX Sea Level Record « Climate Audit 2006
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P1 If it is possible for the product of a world-actualizing action performed by some being to have been better, then, ceteris paribus, it is possible for that action to have been better.
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P1 If it is possible for the product of a world-actualizing action performed by some being to have been better, then, ceteris paribus, it is possible for that action to have been better.
Archive 2005-02-01 2005
rolig commented on the word ceteris paribus
"The order of the conjuncts makes a difference. There are two countervailing forces at work here. First, there is a much discussed general principle that, ceteris paribus, prefers to put the most salient or significant item first (this principle sometimes competes with another, which prefers shorter before longer); since people generally take themselves to be the most salient or significant entities in their environments, this principle would prefer 1sg first (as in me and Kim). But against this is a potent (at least in our culture) 'politeness' principle that says that 1sg should come second in coordinations, as in Kim and I, because we should defer to other people."
– Arnold Zwicky, "Coordinate Possessives", Language Log (12 Oct. 2008)
October 13, 2008
jmjarmstrong commented on the word ceteris paribus
JM is more than equal to ceteris paribus most of the time.
March 31, 2011