empirical
[ em-pir-i-kuhl ]
/ ɛmˈpɪr ɪ kəl /
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adjective
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.
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.
provable or verifiable by experience or experiment, as scientific laws: Theoretical physics is criticized for producing complex concepts that are mathematical, not empirical.
OTHER WORDS FOR empirical
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OTHER WORDS FROM empirical
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
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
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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.