empirical

American  

[em-pir-i-kuhl] / ɛmˈpɪr ɪ kəl /

adjective

1. 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

2. 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

3. provable or verifiable by experience or experiment, as scientific laws.

   Theoretical physics is criticized for producing complex concepts that are mathematical, not empirical.

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empirical British  

/ ɛmˈpɪrɪkəl /

adjective

1. derived from or relating to experiment and observation rather than theory

2. (of medical treatment) based on practical experience rather than scientific proof

3. philosophy

   1. (of knowledge) derived from experience rather than by logic from first principles Compare a priori a posteriori

   2. (of a proposition) subject, at least theoretically, to verification Compare analytic synthetic

4. of or relating to medical quackery

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noun

1. 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 Scientific  

/ ĕm-pîr′ĭ-kəl /

1. Relying on or derived from observation or experiment.

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Other Word Forms

• antiempirical adjective
• empirically adverb
• empiricalness noun
• nonempirical adjective
• overempirical adjective
• semiempirical adjective
• unempirical adjective

Etymology

Origin of empirical

First recorded in 1560–70; empiric + -al ¹

Compare meaning

How does empirical compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• empirical vs. theoretical
• empirical vs. molecular formula
• empirical vs. molecular

Explanation

If knowledge is empirical, it's based on observation rather than theory. To do an empirical study of donut shops, you'll need to visit every one you can find. Empirical looks like empire but comes from a completely different origin: it is from the Greek empeirikos, meaning "experienced." It was originally used in medicine for doctors making choices based on observation and experiment rather than theoretical ideas. It's now used for any kind of knowledge that comes from experience. You can meditate all day on the origins of donuts, but until you visit the donut bakery you'll lack empirical knowledge of donut creation.

Example Sentences

The idea that “there will be no victor or vanquished” is not poetic fatalism, it is empirical reality.

From Salon • Mar. 25, 2026

"Once the question shifts from where intelligence is to how the system is organized," Wilcox noted, "the empirical targets change."

From Science Daily • Mar. 3, 2026

“Our culture formed and bound by empirical science, will never credit such an explanation. But what if there is some important sense in which it is true?”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026

Yet for all its reach, we still lack an empirical answer to a basic question: How has hip hop affected the lives of those most exposed to it?

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026

Gassendi and Locke never thought of themselves as founding an empirical philosophy, although we would say that is what they were doing.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• experimental
• factual
• observational