empirical
[ em-pir-i-kuhl ]
/ ɛmˈpɪr ɪ kəl /
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adjective
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.
OTHER WORDS FOR empirical
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OTHER WORDS FROM empirical
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use empirical in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for empirical
empirical
/ (ɛmˈpɪrɪkəl) /
adjective
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
noun
statistics the posterior probability of an event derived on the basis of its observed frequency in a sampleCompare mathematical probability See also posterior probability
Derived forms of empirical
empirically, adverbempiricalness, nounCollins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Medical definitions for empirical
empirical
[ ĕm-pîr′ĭ-kəl ]
adj.
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.
Other words from empirical
em•pir′i•cal•ly adv.The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Scientific definitions for empirical
empirical
[ ĕm-pîr′ĭ-kəl ]
Relying on or derived from observation or experiment.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.