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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The Namesake
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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.
The cosmological and teleological evidence as examined above was deemed inconclusive.
From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022
Ross seems to acknowledge that, but he also protests that the “Wagner-to-Hitler” meme suggests a teleological progression that, while perhaps convenient, is dangerously simplistic.
From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2020
We can't have a teleological view of the future.
From Salon • Oct. 8, 2019
It was “a teleological frame of feeling almost chosen,” a longtime friend told me.
From The New Yorker • Sep. 10, 2018
It is important here to distinguish between teleological history—the notion that history has a purpose or goal—and retrospective history, which seeks to study history as a process of development.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
