empirical

[em-pir-i-kuh l] /ɛmˈpɪr ɪ kəl/
adjective
1.
derived from or guided by experience or experiment.
2.
depending upon experience or observation alone, without using scientific method or theory, especially as in medicine.
3.
provable or verifiable by experience or experiment.
Origin
1560-70; empiric + -al1
Related forms
empirically, adverb
empiricalness, noun
antiempirical, adjective
antiempirically, adverb
nonempirical, adjective
nonempirically, adverb
overempirical, adjective
overempirically, adverb
semiempirical, adjective
semiempirically, adverb
unempirical, adjective
unempirically, adverb
Synonyms
1, 2. practical, firsthand, pragmatic.
Antonyms
1, 2. secondhand, theoretical.
Examples from the web for empirical
  • He writes in a hardy, unpretentious style that is more empirical than introspective.
  • The empirical evidence that global warming does exist is blinding.
  • There's no empirical study that's ever been done that shows that punitive damages have any constructive function.
  • Anyone who eats a fruit, vegetable, or animal that is wild is putting empirical evidence of evolution into his or her mouth.
  • Collect your own empirical evidence.
  • Both empirical analysis show the same evident results.
  • Before computers, forecasters had to rely on empirical methods and experience to predict the weather.
  • He sought a via media between the purely empirical method and the deductive method.
  • Science, after all, is an empirical endeavor that traffics in probabilities.
  • Of more concern was the way the existing empirical evidence often contradicted his theory and offered it little direct support.
British Dictionary definitions for empirical

empirical

/ɛmˈpɪrɪkəl/
adjective
1.
derived from or relating to experiment and observation rather than theory
2.
(of medical treatment) based on practical experience rather than scientific proof
3.
(philosophy)
  1. (of knowledge) derived from experience rather than by logic from first principles Compare a priori, a posteriori
  2. (of a proposition) subject, at least theoretically, to verification Compare analytic (sense 4), synthetic (sense 4)
4.
of or relating to medical quackery
noun
5.
(statistics) the posterior probability of an event derived on the basis of its observed frequency in a sample Compare mathematical probability See also posterior probability
Derived Forms
empirically, adverb
empiricalness, noun
Word Origin and History for empirical
adj.

1560s, from empiric + -al (1).

empirical in Medicine

empirical em·pir·i·cal (ěm-pēr'ĭ-kəl)
adj.

  1. Relying on or derived from observation or experiment.

  2. Verifiable or provable by means of observation or experiment.

  3. Of or being a philosophy of medicine emphasizing practical experience and observation over scientific theory.

em·pir'i·cal·ly adv.
empirical in Science
empirical
  (ěm-pîr'ĭ-kəl)   
Relying on or derived from observation or experiment.