metaphysical
[met-uh-fiz-i-kuh l]
- pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics.
- Philosophy.
- concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as existence, causality, or truth.
- concerned with first principles and ultimate grounds, as being, time, or substance.
- highly abstract, subtle, or abstruse.
- designating or pertaining to the poetry of an early group of 17th-century English poets, notably John Donne, whose characteristic style is highly intellectual and philosophical and features intensive use of ingenious conceits and turns of wit.
- Archaic. imaginary or fanciful.
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Origin of metaphysical
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for metaphysical
Contemporary Examples
He left the U.S., seeking a spiritual and metaphysical connection for his work elsewhere.
I do not say a creation … Any preexistence of the universe has a metaphysical character.
Things get metaphysical in one of the most masterful hours of television since ‘Breaking Bad.’
‘True Detective’ Episode 5 Review: ‘The Secret Fate of All Life’ is the Best Episode YetAndrew Romano
February 17, 2014
So in episode five—not to spoil anything—Cohle gives one of his metaphysical addresses.
A chapter on the metaphysical poets is four-fifths Donne to one-fifth Herbert, with Marvell failing to get a look-in.
Historical Examples
There are three evils: the metaphysical, the physical, and the moral.
Initiation into PhilosophyEmile Faguet
I do not mean to say that they did this with any occult or metaphysical motives.
Modern Painters Volume II (of V)John Ruskin
These three stages are the Theological, the Metaphysical, and the Positive.
Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3)John Morley
Nay, what does history yet record of the metaphysical annals of man?
Essays, First SeriesRalph Waldo Emerson
He was rather a great judge of metaphysical power than a metaphysician.
Leading Articles on Various SubjectsHugh Miller
metaphysical
- relating to or concerned with metaphysics
- (of a statement or theory) having the form of an empirical hypothesis, but in fact immune from empirical testing and therefore (in the view of the logical positivists) literally meaningless
- (popularly) abstract, abstruse, or unduly theoretical
- incorporeal; supernatural
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Metaphysical
- denoting or relating to certain 17th-century poets who combined intense feeling with ingenious thought and often used elaborate imagery and conceits. Notable among them were Donne, Herbert, and Marvell
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- a poet of this group
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for metaphysical
adj.
early 15c., "pertaining to metaphysics," from methaphesik (late 14c.) + -al, and in part from Medieval Latin metaphysicalis, from Medieval Latin metaphysica (see metaphysics). It came to be used in the sense of "abstract, speculative" (e.g. by Johnson, who applied it to certain 17c. poets, notably Donne and Cowley, who used "witty conceits" and abstruse imagery). Related: Metaphysically.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper