empirical
[em-pir-i-kuh l]
- derived from or guided by experience or experiment.
- depending upon experience or observation alone, without using scientific method or theory, especially as in medicine.
- provable or verifiable by experience or experiment.
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Origin of empirical
Synonyms
See more synonyms for empirical on Thesaurus.com1, 2. practical, firsthand, pragmatic.
Antonyms
1, 2. secondhand, theoretical.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for empirical
Contemporary Examples
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.
No empirical data support his claim that the birth of a baby with Down syndrome makes the world—or the baby—unhappier.
Morris thinks this question is an empirical one, and his new book proposes an answer that he finds astonishing.
Historical Examples
They would have shrunk from the empirical freedom that results from a little beer.
The Longest JourneyE. M. Forster
That is a question of faith and empirical evidence with which we are not here concerned.
The Sense of BeautyGeorge Santayana
There is after all some justification for Guetta's criticism of empirical instruction.
The Psychology of SingingDavid C. Taylor
The method from that time on is about of the type described as empirical.
The Psychology of SingingDavid C. Taylor
Little remains to be said of the nature of this empirical instruction.
The Psychology of SingingDavid C. Taylor
empirical
- 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 principlesCompare a priori, a posteriori
- (of a proposition) subject, at least theoretically, to verificationCompare analytic (def. 4), synthetic (def. 4)
- of or relating to medical quackery
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- statistics the posterior probability of an event derived on the basis of its observed frequency in a sampleCompare mathematical probability See also posterior probability
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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 empirical
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
empirical
(ĕm-pîr′ĭ-kəl)- Relying on or derived from observation or experiment.
- Verifiable or provable by means of observation or experiment.
- Of or being a philosophy of medicine emphasizing practical experience and observation over scientific theory.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
empirical
[ĕm-pîr′ĭ-kəl]
- Relying on or derived from observation or experiment.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.