Advertisement
Advertisement
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.
Derived Forms
- emˈpiricalness, noun
- emˈpirically, adverb
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
Word History and Origins
Origin of empirical1
Example Sentences
You write, "It would prove almost impossible, with Friedman’s method, for empirical evidence to throw out a theory: it led to a mantra that it takes a model to beat a model."
Then there’s the empirical evidence: It’s true that the higher the co-pays and deductibles, the less medical care people seek, on average.
Anyone needing empirical evidence of these conditions need not look beyond the way we fund Social Security, our indispensable federal retirement and disability program.
Here, truth and empirical reality are secondary to emotions, perceptions and lived experience:
On a practical level, this made it essentially impossible for scientists to do their jobs, all of which require dispassionate analysis of empirical data without regard to any special interest groups their conclusions might offend.
Advertisement
Related Words
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse