Theoretically

Definitions: Theoretically

Theoretically

Adverb

1. According to the assumed facts; "on paper the candidate seems promising".

2. In a theoretical manner; "he worked the problem out theoretically".

Date "theoretically" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1686. (references)

Synonyms: Theoretically

Synonyms: in theory (adv), on paper (adv). (additional references)

Antonym: empirically (adv). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Possibility	Barely possible, marginally possible, just possible; possible but improbably, (improbable); theoretically possible.
Qualification	Adverb: provided, provided that, provided always; if, unless, but, yet; according as; conditionally, admitting, supposing; on the supposition of; (theoretically); with the understanding, even, although, though, for all that, after all, at all events.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Theoretically, I can't fly. (Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge; writing credit: Jon Cooksey; Ali Matheson) You're faster than any man on the planet and, theoretically at least, if something should happen to you I could, if I had a couple of billion dollars and a new brain build another unit to replace you. (Now and Again; writing credit: Michael Angeli) But then, of course, theoretically it's always possible to get another ostensible acquittal. (Procès, Le; writing credit: Orson Welles) It's theoretically possible. (Stargate SG-1; writing credit: Robert C. Cooper; Brad Wright)
Lyrics	He could theoretically build a DNA structure that would ensure (Mephisto and Kevin; performing artist: Primus)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Advances in Theoretically Interesting Molecules (reference) The Psychology of Work: Theoretically Based Empirical Research (Volume in Lea's Organization & Management Series) (reference) Theoretically Dead (reference) Theoretically Possible Variants of Compr (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
William James	Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
Communist Manifesto	1848	Just as, therefore, at an earlier period, a section of the nobility went over to the bourgeoisie, so now a portion of the bourgeoisie goes over to the proletariat, and in particular, a portion of the bourgeois ideologists, who have raised themselves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole. (reference)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Walden	Thoreau, Henry David	It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		In addition to transmission from corneal transplants, bite and non-bite exposures inflicted by infected humans could theoretically transmit rabies, but no such cases have been documented. (references)
		Among the other factors that are theoretically associated with differences in susceptibility are (a) unusually efficient acoustic transfer through the external and middle ear, as a determinant of the amount of energy coupled to the inner ear structures, and (b) preexisting hearing loss, which could imply that less additional loss would occur if the sensitive structures have already been damaged. (references)
Business		The second group includes certain products for which service fees theoretically included of device costs. (references)
		Stocks, theoretically, are de-listed from the exchange if not traded for six months, but in reality only two companies were removed in the last four years. (references)
		Consequently, the population would have less access to theoretically free public health services, and hospital charges, although small, would have to be covered by patients. (references)
Children	India	Although abetting or taking dowry theoretically is illegal under the Dowry Prohibition Act, it still is practiced widely. (references)
	Pakistan	Children's rights theoretically are protected by numerous laws that incorporate elements of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. (references)
	Uganda	Recent statistics indicate a decline from 84 percent in 1997 to 76.5 percent in 2000; however, since the implementation of UPE, primary school enrollment has increased from 2.9 million in 1996 to 6.8 million in 2000. Girls and boys theoretically have equal access to education, and lower grades are divided almost evenly by sex; however, the proportion of girls in higher school grades remains low since families traditionally have favored boys when making financially related educational decisions. (references)
Civil Liberties	Solomon Islands	Although theoretically non-Christian religions can be taught in the schools, there is no such instruction at present. (references)
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	In Croat-majority West Mostar, minority students theoretically have the right to take classes in non-Catholic religions; however, this option does not exist in practice. (references)
	Vietnam	Avowed religious practice theoretically bars one from membership in the Communist Party, but in 1997 the CPV reported that about 23,000 of the 2.4 million Party members were religious believers. (references)
Economic History	Senegal	Since January 2000, Senegal is theoretically in full compliance with the TRIPS accord. (references)
	Saudi Arabia	For example, the agency law theoretically limits a Saudi agent's commission to five percent of the value of a contract. (references)
	Georgia	Until recently the state held legal title to all agricultural land, which the farmers have theoretically leased from the state. (references)
Human Rights	Tajikistan	No groups are barred from testifying, and all testimony theoretically is given equal consideration, regardless of the ethnicity or gender of the witness. (references)
	Brazil	The State Secretary of Public Security fired the ombudsman's uniformed police advisor after a disagreement (even though the ombudsman's office is theoretically independent of the Secretary); the ombudsman quit and the Rio state governor promptly named a replacement. (references)
	Eritrea	Warrants also theoretically are required before the Government can monitor mail, telephones, or other means of private communication; however, in practice the Government often does not obtain warrants, and there were reports that the Government monitored some international telephone calls and e-mails. (references)
Political Economy	MALAYSIA	Thus, though theoretically legal, strikes are extremely rare. (references)
	HAITI	Unions are theoretically free to pursue their goals, although government efforts to enforce the law are non-existent. (references)
	United Arab Emirates	While all emirate internal security organs theoretically are branches of one federal organization, in practice they operate with considerable independence. (references)
Political Rights	Zambia	The National Assembly ratifies major appointments and theoretically has broad powers, but the overwhelming majority held by the MMD until the December 27 election effectively precluded independent action by the legislature and limited its ability to provide a check on executive authority. (references)
Trade	Georgia	Georgia has a poor record in enforcing this 'drawback' arrangement, whereby the importer pays and is theoretically reimbursed. (references)
	West Bank	In accordance with duty-free arrangements between the U.S. and the PA, the PA theoretically should not impose tariffs on U.S. products. (references)
Travel	Argentina	Although it is theoretically possible to arrange a work permit following arrival in Argentina, the process is much more complicated and time-consuming than applying for the work visa abroad, and one may not legally begin remunerated employment until permission has been granted. (references)
Women	Malaysia	Theoretically a man who raped his wife could face charges of assault; however, women's rights activists claim that no man has been convicted in such circumstances. (references)
	Pakistan	Both civil and religious laws theoretically protect women's rights in cases of divorce, but many women are unaware of their rights, and often the laws are not observed. (references)
Worker Rights	Botswana	Legal strikes are theoretically possible only after an exhaustive arbitration process. (references)
	Gabon	Laws forbidding child labor theoretically extend protection to foreign children as well, but abuses often were not reported. (references)
	Sao Tome and Principe	Workers often were forced to pay higher prices on the parallel market to obtain the goods theoretically provided at a discount as part of their compensation. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Theoretically" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 99.83% of the time. "Theoretically" is used about 577 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 Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adverb (general)	99.83%	576	10,970
Noun (proper)	0.17%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	577	N/A

Expression using "theoretically": theoretically possible. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "theoretically": theoretically-based, theoretically-informed, theoretically-possible.
	Ending with "theoretically": set-theoretically.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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.

Language		Translations for "theoretically"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		teorikisht (ideally, in theory). (various references)

Arabic		‏نظريا (in theory), ‏تجريديا. (various references)

Bulgarian		теоретично, на теория. (various references)

Chinese		理论上. (various references)

Danish		værdipapirer,hvis omsættelighed er meget begrænset og teoretisk (is very restricted in practice, securities whose negotiability, while theoretically possible), indskudsbeviser og kasseobligationer med fast løbetid,som ikke er omsættelige,eller hvis omsættelighed er meget begrænset og teoretisk (fixed term deposit certificates, is very restricted, or whose negotiability, saving certificates or savings bonds which are not negotiable, while theoretically possible). (various references)

Dutch		waardepapieren waarvan de verhandelbaarheid theoretisch mogelijk,maar in feite zeer beperkt is (is very restricted in practice, securities whose negotiability, while theoretically possible), kasbons met vaste vervaldag of spaarbrieven die niet-verhandelbaar zijn of waarvan de verhandelbaarheid theoretisch mogelijk,maar praktisch zeer beperkt is (fixed term deposit certificates, is very restricted, or whose negotiability, saving certificates or savings bonds which are not negotiable, while theoretically possible). (various references)

French		théoriquement (in theory). (various references)

German		theoretisch (abstract, academic, hypothetical, hypothetically, speculatively, theoretic, theoretical, theoreticly). (various references)

Greek		θεωρητικά (in the abstract, in theory). (various references)

Hungarian		elméletileg (ideally). (various references)

Italian		titoli la cui negoziabilit� ,teoricamente possibile,è di fatto molto limitata (is very restricted in practice, securities whose negotiability, while theoretically possible), buoni di cassa a scadenza fissa o buoni di risparmio che sono negoziabili o la cui negoziabilit� -teoricamente possibile-è di fatto molto limitata (fixed term deposit certificates, is very restricted, or whose negotiability, saving certificates or savings bonds which are not negotiable, while theoretically possible). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		理論的には . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		りろ�"てきには. (various references)

Korean		이� � �으로. (various references)

Pig Latin		eoreticallythay

Portuguese		títulos cuja negociabilidade,teoricamente possível,é de facto muito limitada (is very restricted in practice, securities whose negotiability, while theoretically possible), certificados de depósito com vencimento fixo ou títulos de poupança que não são negociáveis,ou cuja negociabilidade-teoricamente possível-é de facto muito restrita (fixed term deposit certificates, is very restricted, or whose negotiability, saving certificates or savings bonds which are not negotiable, while theoretically possible). (various references)

Romanian		teoreticeşte. (various references)

Russian		теоретически, гипотетически, абсолютно (absolutely, sheerly, starkly, totally, whatsoever). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		teoretski (theoretic, theoretical, theory: in theory). (various references)

Spanish		títulos cuya negociabilidad, teóricamente posible, está de hecho muy limitada (is very restricted in practice, securities whose negotiability, while theoretically possible), bonos de caja con vencimiento fijo o bonos que no son negociables, o cuya negociabilidad-teóricamente posible-está de hecho muy restringida (fixed term deposit certificates, is very restricted, or whose negotiability, saving certificates or savings bonds which are not negotiable, while theoretically possible). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Misspellings
	"Theoretically" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: theoritically, thoeritically. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "theoretically" (pronounced thē'ere"tikulē or thē'ere"tiklē)
7	-e" t i k u l ē	hermetically, magnetically, parenthetically, pathetically, sympathetically.
6	-t i k u l ē	critically, fanatically, journalistically, majestically, mathematically, optimistically, politically, pragmatically, ritualistically, romantically, skeptically, statistically, tactically, therapeutically, uncritically.
5	-i k u l ē	chronically, clinically, comically, cynically, diametrically, electrically, electronically, empirically, ethically, geographically, historically, intrinsically, magically, methodically, metrically, mineralogically, periodically, philosophically, physically, sardonically, scientifically, surgically, symbolically, technically, technologically, theatrically.
4	-k u l ē	botanically, broccoli, fiscally, frantically, locally, luckily, unequivocally, vocally.
3	-u l ē	abnormally, abysmally, accidentally, actually, additionally, agriculturally, anecdotally, anencephaly, angrily, annually, anomaly, arbitrarily, architecturally, artfully, artificially, beneficially, bilaterally, blissfully, bodily, brutally, busily, carefully, casually, centrally, cerebrally, cheerfully, Cicely, circumstantially, civilly, clumsily, coincidentally, commercially, conceptually, conditionally, confidentially, congressionally, conspiratorially, constitutionally, continentally, continually, contractually, contradictorily, conventionally, cordially, crazily, criminally, culturally, customarily, delightfully, developmentally, diagonally, digitally, dismally, diurnally, dorsally, dreadfully, dutifully, easily, editorially, educationally, eerily, emotionally, environmentally, equally, essentially, eternally, eventually, exceptionally, experimentally, exponentially, externally, extraordinarily, facsimile, factually, faithfully, family, fatally, federally, finally, financially, fitfully, florally, forcefully, formally, fractionally, frightfully, frugally, functionally, fundamentally, gainfully, generally, generationally, giggly, gleefully, globally, gloomily, governmentally, gracefully, gradually, gratefully, gravelly, gravitationally, greedily, habitually, handily, happily, hastily, haughtily, heartily, heavily, helpfully, homily, hopefully, horizontally, hungrily, icily, illegally, impartially, incidentally, incrementally, individually, industrially, informally, initially, institutionally, intellectually, intentionally, internally, internationally, involuntarily, irrationally, jauntily, joyfully, judicially, lawfully, lazily, legally, liberally, literally, loyally, manfully, manually, marginally, masterfully, materially, meaningfully, medicinally, mentally, mercifully, merrily, mightily, militarily, minimally, momentarily, monetarily, monopoly, monumentally, morally, mortally, multifamily, multilaterally, municipally, mutually, nasally, nationally, nattily, naturally, necessarily, noisily, nominally, normally, novelly, nutritionally, occasionally, officially, oligopoly, operationally, orally, orchestrally, ordinarily, originally, painfully, partially, peacefully, perennially, peripherally, perpetually, personally, phenomenally, pitifully, playfully, potentially, preferentially, preliminarily, presidentially, primarily, procedurally, professionally, proportionally, provincially, provisionally, purposefully, quintessentially, racially, radially, rationally, readily, regally, regionally, regretfully, respectfully, rightfully, royally, ruefully, satisfactorily, scantily, seasonally, secondarily, semiannually, sequentially, serenely, severally, sexually, skillfully, sleepily, sloppily, socially, specially, speedily, spiritually, statutorily, steadily, steamily, structurally, subfamily, subliminally, substantially, subtly, successfully, summarily, supremely, tactfully, tangentially, tastefully, tearfully, temperamentally, temporally, temporarily, terminally, territorially, testily, thankfully, thoughtfully, totally, traditionally, Tripoli, truthfully, uncannily, unconditionally, unconstitutionally, uneasily, unhappily, unilaterally, unintentionally, universally, unlawfully, unnaturally, unnecessarily, unofficially, unsuccessfully, unusually, usefully, usually, virtually, viscerally, visually, vitally, voluntarily, warily, wearily, wiggly, wilfully, willfully, wishfully, wistfully, wittily, wobbly, woefully, wonderfully, wrongfully.
6	-e" t i k l ē	aesthetically, alphabetically, apologetically, cosmetically, energetically, genetically, hypothetically, phonetically, poetically, synthetically.
5	-t i k l ē	acoustically, analytically, artistically, authentically, automatically, characteristically, democratically, diplomatically, dogmatically, domestically, dramatically, drastically, ecstatically, emphatically, enthusiastically, erratically, euphemistically, fantastically, geopolitically, idiotically, linguistically, logistically, optically, realistically, sarcastically, stylistically, systematically, thematically, uncharacteristically, undiplomatically, unrealistically, vertically.
4	-i k l ē	academically, aerobically, aerodynamically, algebraically, angelically, astronomically, basically, biologically, categorically, chronologically, classically, demographically, ecologically, economically, ethnically, forensically, generically, geometrically, graphically, heroically, hysterically, ideologically, ironically, logically, lyrically, mechanically, metaphorically, microscopically, musically, numerically, organically, pathologically, physiologically, prolifically, psychologically, publically, publicly, radically, rhetorically, rhythmically, specifically, sporadically, stoically, strategically, symmetrically, systemically, terrifically, theologically, tragically, volcanically.
3	-k l ē	alchemically, anatomically, athletically, biweekly, blankly, briskly, brusquely, chemically, darkly, frankly, grotesquely, likely, medically, meekly, newsweekly, obliquely, paradoxically, practically, prickly, quickly, sickly, sleekly, slickly, sparkly, starkly, thickly, typically, uniquely, unlikely, weakly, weekly.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-h-i-l-l-o-r-t-t-y"
	-2 letters: heretically, heterolytic, theoretical.
	-3 letters: erotically, hectoliter, heliolatry, heroically, literately, thetically.
	-4 letters: athrocyte, charlotte, electoral, ethically, heretical, heterotic, lethality, tactilely, teacherly, theoretic, throatily, tracheole, trochleae.
	-5 letters: acrolith, aerolite, aerolith, aetheric, allottee, allotter, athletic, atrocity, catheter, celerity, cellaret, chattery, chattier, chattily, cheerily, chelator, chlorate, chlorite, chorally, citatory, clattery, clitoral, clothier, coitally, collaret, colliery, collyria, corelate, cryolite.
	Words containing the letters "a-c-e-e-h-i-l-l-o-r-t-t-y"
	+3 letters: orthogenetically, thermometrically.
	+4 letters: chlortetracycline, heterotrophically, photoelectrically.
	+5 letters: chlortetracyclines.
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.