Categorical

//ˌkætəˈɡɒɹɪk(ə)l// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1
A categorical proposition.

Adjective

1
Absolute; having no exception.
"We now see that they [propositions] are either conditional or unconditional, or, as the logicians say, hypothetical (conditional) or categorical (unconditional)."
2
Of, pertaining to, or using a category or categories.

Adjective

1
not modified or restricted by reservations wordnet
2
relating to or included in a category or categories wordnet

Synonyms

absolute unconditional unqualified a fortiori a posteriori a priori

Antonyms

attenuated conditional exceptional hypothetical

Example

"I don't want to be too categorical!"

Etymology

From Late Latin catēgoricus + -al. By surface analysis, category + -ical.

Related phrases

categorical dual categorical imperative categorical product categorical variable categorical proposition

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.