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empirical
[ em-pir-i-kuhl ]
adjective
- derived from or guided by direct experience or by experiment, rather than abstract principles or theory:
Empirical evidence of changes in kelp consumption was gathered by measuring the bite marks in seaweed fronds.
Synonyms: pragmatic, firsthand, practical
Antonyms: theoretical, secondhand
- depending upon experience or observation alone, without using scientific method or theory, and hence sometimes insufficiently authoritative, especially as in medicine:
That is nothing but an empirical conclusion with no regard for the laws of thermodynamics.
Synonyms: pragmatic, firsthand, practical
Antonyms: theoretical, secondhand
- provable or verifiable by experience or experiment, as scientific laws:
Theoretical physics is criticized for producing complex concepts that are mathematical, not empirical.
empirical
/ ɛmˈpɪrɪkəl /
adjective
- derived from or relating to experiment and observation rather than theory
- (of medical treatment) based on practical experience rather than scientific proof
- philosophy
- (of knowledge) derived from experience rather than by logic from first principles Compare a priori a posteriori
- of or relating to medical quackery
noun
- statistics the posterior probability of an event derived on the basis of its observed frequency in a sample Compare mathematical probability See also posterior probability
empirical
/ ĕm-pîr′ĭ-kəl /
- Relying on or derived from observation or experiment.
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Derived Forms
- emˈpiricalness, noun
- emˈpirically, adverb
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Other Words From
- em·pir·i·cal·ly adverb
- em·pir·i·cal·ness noun
- an·ti·em·pir·i·cal adjective
- non·em·pir·i·cal adjective
- o·ver·em·pir·i·cal adjective
- sem·i·em·pir·i·cal adjective
- un·em·pir·i·cal adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of empirical1
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Example Sentences
How do archaeologists wrap an empirical mind around capturing history?
Overall, the weight of the empirical evidence supports these essentially conservative arguments for the minimum wage.
In all, Schwitzgebel thinks that this study has been an important step forward in empirical research of morality.
There is little empirical data on how an early marriage affects young men.
No empirical data support his claim that the birth of a baby with Down syndrome makes the world—or the baby—unhappier.
It is at best an empirical test and must be interpreted in the light of clinical symptoms.
So long as bridge building was an empirical art, great waste of material was unavoidable.
The margin of uncertainty which must be met by empirical allowances on the side of safety has been steadily diminished.
Waddell (De Pontibus) gives the following convenient empirical relations.
Nor do I think they would have learnt much of the art from Mr. Bradlaugh, except in an empirical way.
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