apodictic
Americanadjective
-
incontestable because of having been demonstrated or proved to be demonstrable.
-
Logic. (of a proposition) necessarily true or logically certain.
Other Word Forms
- apodeictically adverb
- apodictically adverb
Etymology
Origin of apodictic
1645–55; < Latin apodīcticus < Greek apodeiktikós proving fully. See apo-, deictic
Explanation
Anything apodictic is certain: it cannot be disputed. The existence of gravity is apodictic. This word comes from a Greek verb meaning to demonstrate, and it applies to things that have been demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt. An apodictic statement is absolutely, completely, unquestionably true. Usually, this applies to the logic of a statement or argument that is airtight. Lawyers try to make apodictic arguments: flawless arguments. If something is apodictic, there’s no point in questioning it. “Slavery is wrong” is an apodictic statement.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Just another oral presentation of apodictic obiter dicta on the solo stage!
From Time Magazine Archive
Advance in thinking, in the hegelian universe, has, in short, to proceed by the apodictic words must be rather than by those inferior hypothetic words may be, which are all that empiricists can use.
From A Pluralistic Universe Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy by James, William
The revelation was apodictic, convincing; it made life a different thing; it made society almost plausible.
From Are You a Bromide? The Sulphitic Theory Expounded and Exemplified According to the Most Recent Researches into the Psychology of Boredom Including Many Well-Known Bromidioms Now in Use by Burgess, Gelett
Now all commandment necessarily relates to the will; whereas all scientific demonstration is independent of the will, and is apodictic or demonstrative only as far as it is compulsory on the mind, 'volentem, nolentem'.
From Literary Remains, Volume 1 by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
No religion has ever yet owed its prevalence to "apodictic certainty."
From Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study in Human Nature by James, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
