teleological
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of teleological
Explanation
Teleological means starting from the end and reasoning back, explaining things based on their end purpose. A teleological statement you've probably heard before is "everything happens for a reason." Teleological comes from the Greek roots telos "end" or "purpose" and -ology "study of." So teleology and teleological arguments try to explain the result (for example, the complexity and seeming order of the universe) by postulating a purpose. If you take a teleological view of humanity, you think human life has purpose and is moving toward some goal.
Vocabulary lists containing teleological
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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.
Politics are merely means; the bigger questions are teleological, and souls are central.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Today, some might think that atomism and Aristotle’s teleological view have evolved into a theory of cells that resolves the acorn-oak tree identity problem.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022
We can't have a teleological view of the future.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2019
The Red God may also provide the teleological framework for the entire series.
From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2019
Aristotle thus does not think of the natural movement of the elements as movement through space; he sees it in teleological terms as the realization of potential.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
