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countable and uncountable, plural aetiologies
The establishment of a cause, origin, or reason for something. quotations examples
I do not know where the idea first arose of enlisting internal (subjective) excitations of the sensory organs as well as external sensory stimuli; but it is in fact done in all the more recent accounts of the aetiology of dreams [translating Traumätiologie].
1999, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of Dreams, I.c
The study of causes or causation. examples
(medicine, uncountable) The study or investigation of the causes of disease; a scientific explanation for the origin of a disease. examples
(medicine, countable) A cause of disease or of any particular case of a disease (but see pathology § Usage notes). examples