| Main Entry: | empirical/empiric |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | practical; based on experience |
Synonyms: |
experient, experiential, experimental, factual, observational, observed, pragmatic, provisional |
Antonyms: |
hypothetical, impractical, speculative, theoretical, unobserved |
| Main Entry: | empirical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | practical |
Synonyms: |
empiric, experient, experiential, experimental, factual, observational, observed, pragmatic, provisional, speculative |
| Notes: | empirical describes results determined by experiment and observed behavior or facts; theoretical describes results that are based on guesswork or hypothesis - and pragmatic is contrasted with theoretical on the grounds that the former proceeds from what is demonstrably practical, the latter from conjecture |
Antonyms: |
conjectural, hypothetical, impractical, theoretic, theoretical, unobserved, unproved |
| Main Entry: | experimental |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | exploratory |
Synonyms: |
beginning, developmental, empirical, experiential, first stage, laboratory, momentary, on approval, pilot, preliminary, preparatory, primary, probationary, provisional, speculative, temporary, tentative, test, trial, trial-and-error, unconcluded, under probation, unproved |
Antonyms: |
proven, tested, tried |
| Main Entry: | practical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | realistic, useful |
Synonyms: |
applied, both feet on the ground, businesslike, commonsensical, constructive, doable, down-to-earth, efficient, empirical, experimental, factual, feasible, functional, handy, hard-boiled, implicit, in action, in operation, matter-of-fact, nuts and bolts, operative, orderly, possible, practicable, pragmatic, rational, reasonable, sane, sensible, serviceable, sober, solid, sound, systematic, unidealistic, unromantic, usable, utile, utilitarian, virtual, workable, workaday, working |
| Notes: | practical applies when what is in question is the conduct of affairs, whereas pragmatic applies when the question is the planning with respect to these affairs; practical is anything that can be done and is worth doing, while practicable is anything that can be done - worthwhile or not |
Antonyms: |
impossible, impractical, unfeasible, unrealistic, unserviceable, unworkable, useless, worthless |
| Main Entry: | a posteriori |
| Part of Speech: | adjective/adverb |
| Definition: | involving reasoning from facts |
Synonyms: |
analytical, empirical, experimental, from the latter, inducible, inductive, logical, practical |
Antonyms: |
a priori |