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

Empirical facts have the power to puncture partisan echo chambers and other closed-off belief systems.

From Salon • Feb. 14, 2026

But solving the cube may also elicit happiness because it taps into other emotions, according to Dr Julia Christensen, a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Germany.

From BBC • Dec. 25, 2024

The study was presented this week at the 2023 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing in Singapore and is available on the arXIV preprint server.

From Science Daily • Dec. 7, 2023

As Adam Feldman has shown on Empirical SCOTUS, Kavanaugh and Roberts are nearly inseparable, voting together in 98 percent of cases, a record on this court.

From Slate • Jul. 19, 2023

There are three marked periods or stages in the history of every one of them, which we may call the Empirical, the Classificatory, and the Theoretical.

From Lectures on The Science of Language by Müller, Max

Related Words

• experimental
• factual
• observational