empirical — UK US /ɪmˈpɪrɪkəl/ adjective ► based on what is experienced or seen rather than on theory: empirical analysis/research/study »The diagnosis of a business problem should be based both on empirical analysis and on theoretical analysis. »empirical… … Financial and business terms
empirical — [em pir′i kəl] adj. [ EMPIRIC + AL] 1. relying or based solely on experiment and observation rather than theory [the empirical method] 2. relying or based on practical experience without reference to scientific principles [an empirical remedy]… … English World dictionary
empirical — I adjective analytical, based on evidence of the senses, based on observation, derived from experience, diagnostic, guided by experiment, provisional II index probative Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
empirical — 1560s, from EMPIRIC (Cf. empiric) + AL (Cf. al) (1) … Etymology dictionary
empirical — / empiric [adj] practical; based on experience experient, experiential, experimental, factual, observational, observed, pragmatic, provisional, concepts 548,582 Ant. hypothetical, impractical, speculative, theoretical, unobserved … New thesaurus
empirical — (also empiric) ► ADJECTIVE ▪ based on observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic. DERIVATIVES empirically adverb. ORIGIN Greek empeirikos, from empeiria experience … English terms dictionary
Empirical — A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. Empirical data are data that are produced by… … Wikipedia
empirical — 01. A wealth of [empirical] evidence has been found to support his hypothesis. 02. There is little [empirical] evidence at this point to support his theories. 03. They have based their hypothesis on [empirically] based research done at Cambridge… … Grammatical examples in English
empirical — In a wide sense, an empirical belief is one capable of being confirmed or disconfirmed by sense experience. More narrowly, the term may be restricted so that the confirmation must avoid the use of intermediate theory, in which case the belief… … Philosophy dictionary
Empirical — 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. [1913 Webster] In philosophical language, the term empirical means… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
empirical — 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.… … New Collegiate Dictionary
