Empirical
/ɪmˈpɪɹɪkəl/ adj, noun
adj, noun ·Common ·Middle school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A measurement or result achieved by empirical means.
Adjective
- 1 Pertaining to or based on experience, as opposed to theory.
"The lengths were calculated according to the empirical rules of the trade."
- 2 Pertaining to, derived from, or testable by observations made using the physical senses or using instruments which extend the senses.
- 3 Verifiable by means of scientific experimentation.
"demonstrable with empirical evidence"
Adjective
- 1 derived from experiment and observation rather than theory wordnet
- 2 relying on medical quackery wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Grammar is an empirical science, not a theoretical one."
Etymology
From empiric + -al.