From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishempiricalem‧pir‧i‧cal /ɪmˈpɪrɪkəl/ ●○○ AWL adjective [only before noun] REAL/NOT IMAGINARYbased on scientific testing or practical experience, not on ideas OPP theoretical, hypothetical empirical evidence —empirically /-kli/ adverb
Examples from the Corpus
empirical• Allen also expressed concern about the empirical base for the category.• His theory is inconsistent with the empirical evidence.• Theoretical ideas are connected to the world by a translation into an empirical language more closely attuned to the observable world.• At the empirical level culture and nature can not be discriminated in this way.• Only if this character is recognised will society be understood in terms that are adequate to its empirical reality.• A hypothesis should have an empirical referent. 3.• The theoretical and empirical relationships between the constructed measures will be explored.empirical evidence• It is a myth that is clinically naive and will not stand up in the face of empirical evidence.• Good classification should have well-defined categories into which empirical evidence can be organized.• Nevertheless, the empirical evidence is that these contribute little to individual ageing.• From empirical evidence it seems that species that interact freely with others do so with a great number of other species.• There is, furthermore, substantial empirical evidence of variations in local policy outputs.• Moreover, the empirical evidence on the effect of egalitarianism on capital formation is uncertain.• This is consistent with empirical evidence reported in some studies.• We know of no empirical evidence that it is important.Origin empirical (1500-1600) empiric “person who puts trust only in practical experience” ((16-21 centuries)), from Latin empiricus, from Greek empeiria “experience” 