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categorical

[kat-i-gawr-i-kuh l, -gor-]
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adjective
  1. without exceptions or conditions; absolute; unqualified and unconditional: a categorical denial.
  2. Logic.
    1. (of a proposition) analyzable into a subject and an attribute related by a copula, as in the proposition “All humans are mortal.”
    2. (of a syllogism) having categorical propositions as premises.
  3. of, relating to, or in a category.
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Also cat·e·gor·ic.

Origin of categorical

1590–1600; < Late Latin catēgoric(us) (< Greek katēgorikós; see category, -ic) + -al1
Related formscat·e·gor·i·cal·ly, adverbcat·e·gor·i·cal·ness, nounnon·cat·e·gor·i·cal, adjectivenon·cat·e·gor·i·cal·ly, adverbnon·cat·e·gor·i·cal·ness, nounun·cat·e·gor·i·cal, adjectiveun·cat·e·gor·i·cal·ly, adverbun·cat·e·gor·i·cal·ness, noun

Synonyms

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1. positive, flat, downright.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for categoric

Historical Examples

  • Not a categoric prohibition, but a caution not to sail too near the wind in this matter.

    Instigations

    Ezra Pound

  • A second categoric message from her husband was the response.

    Queen Hortense

    L. Mhlbach

  • The Categoric Imperative in the individual is merely the result of his individual education.

  • It was on this formal, categoric, and solemn declaration that we voted Art.

  • The essential point is perhaps best brought out by Shaler in his distinction between sympathetic and categoric contacts.

British Dictionary definitions for categoric

categorical

categoric

adjective
  1. unqualified; positive; unconditionala categorical statement
  2. relating to or included in a category
  3. logic another word for categorial
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Derived Formscategorically, adverbcategoricalness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for categoric

categorical

adj.

1590s, as a term in logic, "unqualified, asserting absolutely," from Late Latin categoricus, from Greek kategorikos "accusatory, affirmative, categorical," from kategoria (see category). General sense of "explicit, unconditional" is from 1610s. Categorical imperative, from the philosophy of Kant, first recorded 1827. Related: Categorically.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper