Definitions for THEORETICAL
ˌθi əˈrɛt ɪ kəlthe·o·ret·i·cal

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. theoretical, theoreticadjective

   concerned primarily with theories or hypotheses rather than practical considerations

   "theoretical science"

2. theoreticaladjective

   concerned with theories rather than their practical applications

   "theoretical physics"

WiktionaryRate this definition:3.3 / 4 votes

1. theoreticaladjective

   Of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Theoretical, Theoretick, Theorical, Theorickadjective

   Speculative; depending on theory or speculation; terminating in theory or speculation; not practical.

   Etymology: theorique, Fr. from ϑεωρία.

   When he speaks,
   The air, a charter’d libertine, is still;
   And the mute wonder lurketh in mens ears,
   To steal his sweet and honied sentences:
   So that the act and practick part of life
   Must be the mistress to this theorique. William Shakespeare.

   The theorical part of the inquiry being interwoven with the historical conjectures, the philosophy of colours will be promoted by indisputable experiments. Robert Boyle, on Colours.

   For theoretical learning and sciences there is nothing yet complete. Thomas Burnet, Theory of the Earth.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. theoretical

   Theoretical refers to something that is based on theories or principles and not connected with practical or concrete implementation. It involves ideas, concepts, and intellectual reasoning rather than practical application or physical actions. Often, it includes abstract or philosophical thinking that helps in understanding and explaining a particular phenomenon or subject matter.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 2 votes

1. Theoreticaladjective

   pertaining to theory; depending on, or confined to, theory or speculation; speculative; terminating in theory or speculation: not practical; as, theoretical learning; theoretic sciences

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'THEORETICAL' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3184

2. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'THEORETICAL' in Adjectives Frequency: #442

How to pronounce THEORETICAL?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say THEORETICAL in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of THEORETICAL in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of THEORETICAL in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of THEORETICAL in a Sentence

1. Walter Orenstein:

   An' overreaction of the immune system' appears to be one of the ways natural Covid-19 infection leads to serious illness and death. There is the theoretical risk that vaccines might trigger that, but I am not aware of any data to date that support an actual role for vaccines in exacerbating the clinical illness, in fact, the trials showed that the vaccines, such as the JJ vaccine, are more effective against serious disease than mild disease.

2. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer:

   You do your best to have some of what I call 'imaginative understanding' of how a decision will affect people in this country, because this is not a theoretical exercise. This is an exercise that affects Americans all across the country.

3. Kostiantyn Yelisieiev:

   We are of the view it is high time to go from theoretical debates to practical discussion.

4. Justin Trudeau:

   We need to be consulting with communities; we need to be partnering with indigenous peoples; we need to be reassuring Canadians that the science and environmental impact and the risks are being properly monitored, however, we do need to continue to allow processes ... underway where proponents of a broad range of projects can attempt to acquire the social license that simply was not available, even as a theoretical option, over the past years.

5. Ashti Hawrami:

   We simply cannot afford returning to the old arrangements with Baghdad and widening the financial gap again, we would accept a real budget that Baghdad can commit to without conditions, but we don't want to be part of a theoretical budget which isn't worth the paper it is written on.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=THEORETICAL
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Theoretical
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=THEORETICAL
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/THEORETICAL