a pri·o·ri
Audio Help [ey prahy-awr-ahy, -ohr-ahy, ey pree-awr-ee, -ohr-ee, ah pree-awr-ee, -ohr-ee] Pronunciation Key
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Audio Help [ey prahy-awr-ahy, -ohr-ahy, ey pree-awr-ee, -ohr-ee, ah pree-awr-ee, -ohr-ee] Pronunciation Key –adjective
| 1. | from a general law to a particular instance; valid independently of observation. Compare a posteriori (def. 1). |
| 2. | existing in the mind prior to and independent of experience, as a faculty or character trait. Compare a posteriori (def. 2). |
| 3. | not based on prior study or examination; nonanalytic: an a priori judgment. |
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| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
a priori
To learn more about a priori visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| a pri·o·ri
Audio Help (ä' prē-ôr'ē, -ōr'ē, ā' prī-ôr'ī, -ōr'ī') Pronunciation Key
adj.
[Medieval Latin ā priōrī : Latin ā, from + Latin priōrī, ablative of prior, former.] a' pri·o'ri adv., a' pri·or'i·ty (-ôr'ĭ-tē, -ŏr'-) n. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
a priori
1710, "from cause to effect" (a logical term, in ref. to reasoning), from L., lit. "from what comes first," from priori, abl. of prior "first" (see prior (adj.)). Used loosely for "in accordance with previous knowledge" (1834).
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| a priori | |
adjective | |
| 1. | involving deductive reasoning from a general principle to a necessary effect; not supported by fact; "an a priori judgment" [ant: a posteriori] |
| 2. | based on hypothesis or theory rather than experiment |
adverb | |
| 1. | derived by logic, without observed facts [ant: a posteriori] |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
A priori
A` pri*o"ri\ [L. a (ab) + prior former.]1. (Logic) Characterizing that kind of reasoning which deduces consequences from definitions formed, or principles assumed, or which infers effects from causes previously known; deductive or deductively. The reverse of a posteriori. 3. (Philos.) Applied to knowledge and conceptions assumed, or presupposed, as prior to experience, in order to make experience rational or possible. A priori, that is, form these necessities of the mind or forms of thinking, which, though first revealed to us by experience, must yet have pre["e]xisted in order to make experience possible. --Coleridge.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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