"empirical" meaning in English

See empirical in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ɪmˈpɪrɪkəl/ Audio: en-us-empirical.ogg [US] Forms: empirical [positive], more empirical [comparative], most empirical [superlative]
Head templates: {{adj|more=true}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If something is empirical, it is based on or can be checked by observation or experience.
    Sense id: simple-empirical-en-adj-MVDT5IP-
     
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "empirical",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more empirical",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most empirical",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "more": "true"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
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  ],
  "hyphenation": "em‧pi‧ri‧cal",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "theoretical"
        },
        {
          "word": "hypothetical"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Simply because there is no empirical evidence to support this does not mean it's wrong. It simply means we haven't looked hard enough."
        },
        {
          "text": "This hypothesis has been challenged on both theoretical and empirical grounds."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something is empirical, it is based on or can be checked by observation or experience."
      ],
      "id": "simple-empirical-en-adj-MVDT5IP-"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪmˈpɪrɪkəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-empirical.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "empirical"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "empirical",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "more empirical",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most empirical",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "more": "true"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": "em‧pi‧ri‧cal",
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "theoretical"
        },
        {
          "word": "hypothetical"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Simply because there is no empirical evidence to support this does not mean it's wrong. It simply means we haven't looked hard enough."
        },
        {
          "text": "This hypothesis has been challenged on both theoretical and empirical grounds."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If something is empirical, it is based on or can be checked by observation or experience."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ɪmˈpɪrɪkəl/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-empirical.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "empirical"
}

Download raw JSONL data for empirical meaning in English (0.9kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-08-09 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-08-03 using wiktextract (99a4ed9 and 3c020d2). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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