Definition of "karma" []

• Hinduism & Buddhism The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny. (noun)
• Fate; destiny. (noun)
• Informal A distinctive aura, atmosphere, or feeling: There's bad karma around the house today. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "To take one example, only a decade ago, the word karma would have meant little to people on the streets."
• "The word karma is derived from the sanskrit kri, meaning“to do.”"
• "In the absence of any firm religious belief or clear idea of morality, many of the study's subjects have decided that "karma" is the best way to make sense of the universe."