Adjacent Words

Empirical definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EMPIR'ICAL, a. Pertaining to experiments or experience.
1. Versed in experiments; as an empiric alchimist.
2. Known only by experience; derived from experiment; used and applied without science; as empiric skill; empiric remedies.
I have avoided that empirical morality that cures one vice by means of another.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: derived from experiment and observation rather than theory; "an empirical basis for an ethical theory"; "empirical laws"; "empirical data"; "an empirical treatment of a disease about which little is known" [syn: empirical, empiric] [ant: theoretic, theoretical]
2: relying on medical quackery; "empiric treatment" [syn: empiric, empirical]

Merriam Webster's

also empiric adjective Date: 1569 1. originating in or based on observation or experience <empirical data> 2. relying on experience or observation alone often without due regard for system and theory <an empirical basis for the theory> 3. capable of being verified or disproved by observation or experiment <empirical laws> 4. of or relating to empiricism • empirically adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 based or acting on observation or experiment, not on theory. 2 Philos. regarding sense-data as valid information. 3 deriving knowledge from experience alone. Phrases and idioms: empirical formula Chem. a formula showing the constituents of a compound but not their configuration. Derivatives: empirically adv.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Empiric Em*pir"ic, Empirical Em*pir"ic*al, a. 1. Pertaining to, or founded upon, experiment or experience; depending upon the observation of phenomena; versed in experiments. In philosophical language, the term empirical means simply what belongs to or is the product of experience or observation. --Sir W. Hamilton. The village carpenter . . . lays out his work by empirical rules learnt in his apprenticeship. --H. Spencer. 2. Depending upon experience or observation alone, without due regard to science and theory; -- said especially of medical practice, remedies, etc.; wanting in science and deep insight; as, empiric skill, remedies. Empirical formula. (Chem.) See under Formula. Syn: See Transcendental.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Empirical evidence or study relies on practical experience rather than theories. There is no empirical evidence to support his thesis. ADJ: usu ADJ n • empirically ...empirically based research... They approached this part of their task empirically. ADV: usu ADV adj/-ed, ADV after v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. See empiric

Moby Thesaurus

Cyrenaic, Eleatic, Epicurean, Megarian, Stoic, animist, animistic, atomistic, cosmotheistic, cut-and-try, eclectic, eudaemonistic, existential, experiential, experimental, factual, hedonic, hedonist, hedonistic, heuristic, hit-or-miss, humanist, humanistic, idealistic, instrumentalist, materialistic, mechanistic, metaphysical, monistic, naturalistic, nominalist, observed, panlogistical, pantheistic, pilot, positivist, positivistic, practical, pragmatic, pragmatist, probationary, probative, probatory, proving, provisional, rationalistic, realist, realistic, scholastic, sensationalistic, syncretistic, tentative, test, testing, theistic, transcendentalist, transcendentalistic, trial, trial-and-error, trying, utilitarian, verificatory, vitalistic, voluntarist, voluntaristic