heuristic

[ hyoo-ris-tikor, often, yoo- ]

adjective

1. serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation.
2. encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems independently, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error:

   The course uses a heuristic teaching method to allow students to find answers without being directly taught.

3. of, relating to, or based on experimentation, evaluation, or trial-and-error methods.
4. Computers, Mathematics. pertaining to a trial-and-error method of problem solving used when an algorithmic approach is impractical.

noun

1. a heuristic method of argument.
2. the study of heuristic procedure.

heuristic

/ hjʊəˈrɪstɪk /

adjective

1. helping to learn; guiding in discovery or investigation
2. (of a method of teaching) allowing pupils to learn things for themselves
3. 1. maths science philosophy using or obtained by exploration of possibilities rather than by following set rules
   2. computing denoting a rule of thumb for solving a problem without the exhaustive application of an algorithm

      a heuristic solution

noun

1. plural the science of heuristic procedure

Derived Forms

• heuˈristically, adverb

Other Words From

• heu·risti·cal·ly adverb
• nonheu·ristic adjective
• unheu·ristic adjective
• unheu·risti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of heuristic¹

First recorded in 1815–25; from New Latin heuristicus, equivalent to Greek heur(ískein) “to find out, discover” + Latin -isticus -istic

Word History and Origins

Origin of heuristic¹

C19: from New Latin heuristicus, from Greek heuriskein to discover

Example Sentences

But in a world where weight has become a cheap heuristic for health, fatphobia threatens us all.

From Slate

"What's so cool about this is that it adjusts to each person's internal dynamics without any tuning or heuristic adjustments, which is a huge difference from a lot of work in the field," Young said.

From Science Daily

The voters walking into the ballot box, they don't need to know anything else about the candidate other than that party heuristic, that D or that R on the ballot.

From Salon

“My benchmark or heuristic for figuring that out is: Do they work together, and do they seem to be advancing a common political agenda?” he said.

From Salon

"We plan to collaborate with other bioinformaticians from external organisations linked to pan-genome research and develop a state-of-the-art heuristic algorithm to efficiently construct pan-genomes of populations."

From Science Daily