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empiricism

American  
[em-pir-uh-siz-uhm] / ɛmˈpɪr əˌsɪz əm /

noun

  1. empirical method or practice.

  2. Philosophy. the doctrine that all knowledge is derived from sense experience.

  3. undue reliance upon experience, as in medicine; quackery.

  4. an empirical conclusion.

empiricism British  
/ ɛmˈpɪrɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

  1. philosophy the doctrine that all knowledge of matters of fact derives from experience and that the mind is not furnished with a set of concepts in advance of experience Compare intuitionism rationalism

  2. the use of empirical methods

  3. medical quackery; charlatanism

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • antiempiricism noun
  • antiempiricist noun
  • empiricist noun
  • nonempiricism noun
  • proempiricism noun
  • proempiricist noun

Etymology

Origin of empiricism

First recorded in 1650–60; empiric + -ism

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.