Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Empirical

Definition: Empirical

Empirical

Adjective

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".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "empirical" was first used: 1569. (references)



Specialty Definitions: Empirical

DomainDefinitions

Health

A treatment based on an assumed diagnosis, prior to receiving confirmatory laboratory test results. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Synonym: Empirical

Synonym: Trancscendental. (additional references)
Antonym: theoretical (adj). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Empirical

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Essay

Adjective: essaying; Verb: experimental; tentative, empirical, probationary.

Experiment

Adjective: experimental, empirical.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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.

Crosswords: Empirical

English words defined with "empirical": Bode's law, by trial and errorCharlatanicalempirical formula, empirical research, empirically, Empiristic, experimentalismKepler's law, Kepler's law of planetary motionThomsonianism, through empirical observation, transcendental, Transcendental function, transcendental philosophy, transcendentalismUnit of measure. (references)
Specialty definitions using "empirical": Blondel-Rey law, Boyle-Mariotte lawDalton lawempirical Bayes'estimator, empirical Bayes'procedure, empirical criterion, empirical model, empirical probit, empirical treatment, empirical yield tablefineness modulusHardgrove number, Holt methodinformative priorKhosla's method of determination of uplift pressures and exit gradientsmethod of independent variablesPareto curve, Pareto distribution, penis warRankine's formulaSalamon-Munro formul, shock pressure loss, Social Values, steering functiontwo-control-point methodZ/R Relationship. (references)

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Modern Usage: Empirical

DomainUsage

Screenplays

I need some kind of proof, some kind of verifiable, empirical data. (A Beautiful Mind; writing credit: Akiva Goldsman)

Judgment of any system, or a priori relationship or phenomenon exists in an irrational, or metaphysical, or at least epistemological contradiction to an abstract empirical concept such as being, or to be, or to occur in the thing itself, or of the thing itself. (Love and Death; writing credit: Woody Allen)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Empirical

DomainTitle

Books

  • Behavior Science: Philosophical, Methodological, and Empirical Advances (reference)

  • Cost Proxy Models and Telecommunications Policy : A New Empirical Approach to Regulation (reference)

  • Empirical Likelihood (reference)

  • Helping Clients Forgive: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope (reference)

  • The Empirical Stance (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Empirical

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

These studies should be longitudinal and reflect current theoretical and empirical advances in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics. (references)

Empirical evaluation of the efficacy of hearing conservation programs and the field performance of hearing protection devices in industry. (references)

For these reasons, much of the available information concerning choice of antimicrobial agents is based on small empirical trials in humans. (references)

Economic History

Guyana

Employees of state-owned firms are anxious that their jobs be protected, although the empirical evidence in the case of the phone company (privatized since 1992) has been that of increased employment opportunities. (references)

China

Expected to continue development at a rate of 25-30% annually over the next five years, the total annual volume of decoration and refurbishing work will also likely soar from RMB 200 billion to 600 billion ($24.2 billion to $72.6 billion) between 2001 through 2005. According to the last three years of empirical analysis, building and decoration exports to China grew from $29.3 million in 1998 to $39.4 million in 2000. During this period, growth in this sector rose at a rate of 34.48%. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Spoken Usage: Empirical

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Dennis Miller

If you're looking for empirical truth on TV, you're watching the wrong kinescope.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Empirical

"Empirical" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.61% of the time. "Empirical" is used about 1,518 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)99.61%1,5125,393
Noun (proper)0.26%4175,879
Noun (common)0.13%2245,945
                    Total100.00%1,518N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expression: Empirical

Expressions using "empirical": empirical Bayes'estimator empirical Bayes'procedure empirical criterion empirical formula empirical formulare empirical knowledge empirical model empirical probit empirical research empirical rule empirical treatment empirical yield table through empirical observation. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "empirical": empirical-rational.

Ending with "empirical": non-empirical.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Empirical

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

empirical formula

27

empirical

22

empirical rule

15

empirical research

13

empirical epistemology ethics moral normative research

9

empirical study

7

empirical likelihood

7

empirical lab

6

empirical evidence

5

data empirical

4

definition empirical

4

empirical psychology

4

empirical knowledge

3

empirical information marketing system

3

audio empirical

3

empirical finance journal

2

empirical lab distressor

2

empirical epistemology normative research

2

empirical probability

2

empirical employed individual productivity self

2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Empirical

Language Translations for "empirical"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

empirik (empiric, empiricist, experimental). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏تجريبي (empiricist, tentative). (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

опитен (adept, capable, consummate, empiric, experienced, experimental, expert, good, grey, laboratory, old, old hand, perfect, pilot, practised, proficient, ripe, scientific, skilful, skilled, skillful, sophisticated, thorough-paced, versed, veteran, whizbang), емпиричен (empiric). (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

经验主义. (various references)

   

Czech

  

empirický (empiric). (various references)

   

Danish

  

empirisk sandsynlighed (empirical probability), empirisk regel (empirical rule), empirisk probit (empirical probit), empirisk model (empirical model), empirisk masseformel (empirical mass formula), empirisk kriterium (empirical criterion), empirisk formel (empirical formula), empirisk Bayes procedure (empirical Bayes'procedure), empirisk Bayes estimator (empirical Bayes'estimator), tommelfingerregel (empirical rule), tilvaekstoversigt korrigeret for bevoksningsgrad (empirical yield table), tentativ behandling (empirical treatment, presumptive treatment), iagttagelse (empirical finding, notice, observation), håndregel (empirical rule), bruttoformlen (empirical formula, gross composition, molecular formula). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

empirische probit (empirical probit), empirisch criterium (empirical criterion), empirisch model (empirical model), empirische Bayesiaanse procedure (empirical Bayes'procedure), empirische Bayesiaanse schatter (empirical Bayes'estimator), empirische massaformule (empirical mass formula), empirische regel (empirical rule), empirische waarschijnlijkheid (empirical probability), ervaringsregel (empirical rule), empirische formule (empirical formula, gross composition, molecular formula), vuistregel (empirical rule, heuristic, heuristic method, heuristic rule, rule of thumb), brutoformule (empirical formula, gross composition, molecular formula), molecuulformule (empirical formula, gross composition, molecular formula), opbrengsttafel voor gemiddelde bestanden van grote bosbedrijven (empirical yield table), voorlopige behandeling (empirical treatment, presumptive treatment), chemische formule (chemical formula, elemental formula, empirical formula, formula, gross composition, molecular formula). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

empiirinen tuottotaulukko (empirical yield table), empiirinen todennäköisyys (empirical probability), empiirinen sääntö (empirical rule), empiirinen probit (empirical probit), empiirinen malli (empirical model), empiirinen kriteeri (empirical criterion), empiirinen kaava (empirical formula), empiirinen Bayesin menetelmä (empirical Bayes'procedure), empiirinen Bayesin estimaattori (empirical Bayes'estimator), kokemusperäinen tuottotaulukko (empirical yield table), kokemusperäinen sääntö (empirical rule), kokemusperäinen malli (empirical model), kokemusperäinen kriteeri (empirical criterion), kokemusperäinen kaava (empirical formula), hoito oletetun diagnoosin perusteella (empirical treatment, presumptive treatment). (various references)

   

French

  

empirique (empiric). (various references)

   

German

  

empirisch (empiric, empirically), erfahrungsgemäß (empirically, experiential, from experience). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

εμπειρικόσ (empiric). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

תצפיתי, אמפירי, סיו י (experimental, tentative), סויי (experimental). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

tapasztalati (empiric, experimental, practical), empirikus (a posteriori, empiric). (various references)

   

Italian

  

empirico (empiric, empiricist, experiential, healer). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

実証的 (positive). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

じっしょうてき (positive). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

실험 (Experiment, Experimental, Experimentation). (various references)

   

Manx

  

treealagh (assertive, empiric, tentative). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

empiricalay

   

Portuguese

  

empírico (empiricism, emu, experiment). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

empiric (by rule of thumb, empiric, empirically, quack), pragmatic (empiric, pragmatic, pragmatically). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

эмпирический (empiric, experiential). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

empiričan. (various references)

   

Spanish

  

empírico (empiric, empiricist). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

empirisk (empiric, experimental). (various references)

   

Thai

  

ซึ่งไ"้จากประสบการ"์หรือการท"ลองมากกว่าทฤษฎี. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

görgül (empiric), deneysel (empiric, experimental, tentative). (various references)

   

Ukranian 

  

вузькопрактичний (empiric), емпіричний (empiric, experiential). (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

theo lối kinh nghiệm (empiric), kinh nghiệm chủ nghĩa (experiential). (various references)

   

Welsh

  

empeiraidd. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Empirical

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Greek700 BCE-300 CE

empeirikos. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Empirical

Derivations

Words beginning with "empirical": empirically. (additional references)

Words ending with "empirical": nonempirical, semiempirical, unempirical. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Empirical" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: emirical, empeiria, emperial, emperical, emphirical, empinical, empiracal, empircal, empiriacal, empirial, empiricals, empiricaly, empiricle, emprical, enpirical, epirical, imperical, impirical, Meziriac. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Empirical"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "empirical" (pronounced e'mpi"rikul)
6-i" r i k u llyrical.
5-r i k u lasymmetrical, categorical, cylindrical, electrical, geometrical, historical, hysterical, metaphorical, metrical, nonelectrical, rhetorical, semicylindrical, spherical, symmetrical, theatrical.
4-i k u lacoustical, alphabetical, analytical, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, astrological, astronautical, astronomical, atypical, autobiographical, bicycle, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, botanical, cervical, chronological, classical, comical, conical, critical, cubicle, cyclical, cynical, dermatological, diabolical, dialectical, ecclesiastical, ecological, economical, ecumenical, egotistical, electrochemical, electromechanical, elliptical, encyclical, epidemiological, eschatological, ethical, ethnical, evangelical, fanatical, galenical, geographical, geological, geopolitical, graphical, gynecological, helical, heretical, hypercritical, hypocritical, icicle, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, inimical, ironical, lackadaisical, lexical, liturgical, logical, logistical, magical, mathematical, mechanical, metallurgical, metaphysical, methodological, morphological, musical, mystical, mythological, neoclassical, neurological, nonpolitical, nonsensical, nonsurgical, nontechnical, ontological, optical, ornithological, paradoxical, pathological, pedagogical, periodical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, physical, physiological, popsicle, preclinical, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, puritanical, rabbinical, radiological, sabbatical, semiclassical, semitropical, serological, sociological, statistical, stereotypical, strategical, surgical, tactical, technical, technological, teleological, testicle, theological, theoretical, topical, toxicological, tricycle, tropical, typographical, tyrannical, umbilical, uncritical, uneconomical, unethical, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, whimsical, zoological.
3-k u laeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, anarchical, anatomical, ankle, anthropological, article, barnacle, biblical, bifocal, biochemical, brickle, buckle, cackle, chemical, Chronicle, chuckle, circle, clavicle, clerical, clinical, commonsensical, coracle, cortical, crackle, cuticle, cycle, debacle, diacritical, domical, ducal, encircle, epochal, equivocal, etymological, farcical, fecal, fickle, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, geophysical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, granduncle, hackle, heckle, heterocercal, hierarchical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypothetical, impractical, jackal, knuckle, local, maniacal, matriarchal, medical, meikle, meteorological, methodical, Mickle, miracle, monocle, motorcycle, muckle, mythical, nautical, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, numerical, obstacle, Oracle, oratorical, particle, patriarchal, photochemical, pickle, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, practical, pumpernickel, quizzical, radical, ramshackle, rankle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, ruckle, runkle, satirical, shackle, shekel, sickle, skeptical, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, sprinkle, stickle, suckle, tabernacle, tackle, tentacle, tickle, tinkle, trickle, twinkle, typical, uncle, unequivocal, unicycle, unshackle, vocal, Winkle, wrinkle.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Empirical

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "a-c-e-i-i-l-m-p-r"

-1 letter: imperial.

-2 letters: caliper, campier, claimer, clamper, crimple, empiric, impaler, impearl, imperia, imperil, lempira, miracle, palmier, ramilie, reclaim, replica.

-3 letters: ampler, calmer, camper, carpel, eclair, epical, impair, impale, lacier, limier, limper, mailer, malice, marcel, palier, palmer, parcel, placer, plaice, plicae, prelim, primal, remail, rimple.

-4 letters: aimer, amice, amici, ample, areic, ariel, camel, campi, caper, carle, carpi, ceria, cilia, claim, clamp, clear, clime, cramp, crape, cream, crime, crimp, cripe, email, erica, icier, ileac, iliac, impel, lacer, lamer, limpa, macer, macle, maile, malic, maple, melic, micra, miler, milia, milpa, pacer, paler, parle, pearl, peril, pical, pilar, pilea, pilei, place, plica, plier, price, prima, prime, primi, ramie, realm, recap, relic, remap.

-5 letters: acme, acre, alec, alme, amie, amir, aper, aril, calm, came, camp, cape, care, carl, carp, ceil, cire, clam, clap, clip, cram, crap, earl, emic, emir, epic, ilea, ilia, impi, lace, laic, lair, lame, lamp, lari, leap, lear, liar, lice, lier, lima, lime, limp, lipa, lipe, lira, lire, liri, mace, mail, mair, male, marc, mare, marl, meal, merl, mica, mice, mile, mire, miri, pace, pail, pair, pale, palm, pare, peal, pear, peri, perm, pial, pica, pice, pier, pile, pili, pima, plea, plie, pram, prim, race, rail, rale, rami, ramp, rape, real, ream, reap, rial, rice, riel, rile, rime, ripe.

 Words containing the letters "a-c-e-i-i-l-m-p-r"
 

+2 letters: empirically, planimetric, spermicidal, unempirical.

 

+3 letters: nonempirical, polarimetric, semitropical.

 

+4 letters: hemispherical, imperceivable, imperialistic, impracticable, microcephalic, microparticle, multiparticle, recompilation, republicanism, semiempirical, semiporcelain, supercriminal.

 

+5 letters: microcephalics, microcephalies, microparticles, microspherical, recompilations, republicanisms, semiporcelains, supercriminals.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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Alternative Orthography: Empirical


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

45 6D 70 69 72 69 63 61 6C

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

=

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

.    --    .--.    ..    .-.    ..    -.-.    .-    .-..

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000101 01101101 01110000 01101001 01110010 01101001 01100011 01100001 01101100

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#69 &#109 &#112 &#105 &#114 &#105 &#99 &#97 &#108

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0045 006D 0070 0069 0072 0069 0063 0061 006C

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

397982758475696778

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern
5. Usage: Commercial
6. Quotations: Non-fiction
7. Quotations: Spoken
8. Usage Frequency
9. Expressions
10. Expressions: Internet
11. Translations: Modern
12. Translations: Ancient
13. Derivations
14. Rhymes
15. Anagrams
16. Orthography
17. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.