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Glite Dictionary
extensionally

extensionally

1 8.9
About the actual things or members a word refers to, not its meaning
  • adverb
  • /ɪkˈstɛnʃənəli/
  • Formal
: extensionalmente
  • All Turing-complete languages are in some sense equivalent, but they're only extensionally equivalent: you can use them to write all the same functions, but not necessarily all the same algorithms.

But if those two characterizations are what philosophers sometimes like to call extensionally equivalent, then Socrates isn't cheating.

Examples

  • But if this were Gauthier's intention, he would have to show that the two failures are extensionally equivalent—i.e., he would have to argue that private appropriation fails where and only where both the free market and morals by agreement are also irrational.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The concept "accurately speaking" is used, like our notion of set, extensionally.

    Academic text (1998)

  • And I think it's quite extensionally existentially compelling right now.

  • Functions are defined extensionally, with reference only to their inputs and outputs.

    Blog text (29)

  • But if those two characterizations are what philosophers sometimes like to call extensionally equivalent, then Socrates isn't cheating.

    YaleCourses

  • "Such a world is in fact quoted, but it is not constructed, or -- if you want -- extensionally mentioned, but not intensionally analyzed" (Eco 234).

    Academic text (1995)

  • Mathematicians often prefer to define sets extensionally rather than intensionally, focusing on the actual members of the set.

  • When we describe animals extensionally, we refer to specific examples like dogs and cats instead of abstract concepts.

  • In programming, functions are defined extensionally by listing their inputs and the corresponding outputs they produce.

Surface Forms

extensionally positive

Morphology

extensionally = extensional (semi-transparent) = extension + al + ly

Forming an adverb from the adjective 'extensional' with '-ly' is regular, but the adjective itself is a technical formation from 'extension' + '-al', so the meaning is specialized.

Etymology

Extensionally comes from extend, from a Latin word meaning 'to stretch out', plus the ending -ally meaning 'in a way'. So extensionally means 'in a way' that looks at the actual things something includes, the real items or members of a group, rather than at its idea or definition.