phenomenological
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or based on observed or observable facts.
The researchers opted for a phenomenological investigation rather than a purely theoretical study.
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Philosophy. of or relating to someone’s awareness or experience of something rather than the thing itself.
Case study scholars examine a particular phenomenon, while phenomenological scholars examine its essence and meaning as experienced by people in their everyday lives.
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Origin of phenomenological
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The previous explanations for this behavior were phenomenological at best," said Dallas Trinkle, the Ivan Racheff Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and the senior author of the paper.
From Science Daily • Jan. 26, 2026
This pining for phenomenological stimulation seems almost reactionary.
From Salon • Oct. 13, 2023
Husserl argued that when one begins the phenomenological investigation, one must suspend the temptation to assert that an object is in essence what it appears to be.
From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022
“The phenomenological and social dimensions of mental illness have all but disappeared as questions worthy of serious and sustained attention,” he writes.
From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2022
It allowed a realistic articulation in this student's phenomenological master's thesis of her lived nurse experience.
From Humanistic Nursing by Paterson, Josephine G.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.