Skip to main content
nontheoretical

nontheoretical

7.2
Based on practical experience and real situations rather than theory
  • adjective
  • /ˌnɒnθiəˈrɛtɪkəl/
translation icon : no teórico
  • The workshop was designed to provide nontheoretical solutions to common problems faced by small businesses.

Examples

  • The new training program focuses on nontheoretical approaches that directly apply to real-world scenarios.

  • Although nontheoretical and theoretically enlightening, this literary work also offers ways to reconceptualize what constitutes a family and the different boundaries some groups use to define family.

    Academic text (1991)
  • "Equations presented in the main text reduce citations from nontheoretical articles, whereas equations presented in an appendix do not.

    Blog text (33)
  • Caesar argues that the "deliberately nontheoretical" character of Tocqueville's political science deserves special attention (150).

    Academic text (2000)
  • Their insistence was based on a once-rejected principle, associated with Sir Francis Bacon, that emphasized the factual, nontheoretical nature of science.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Many educators prefer nontheoretical methods because they help students understand practical applications of concepts.

Synonyms

practical
vsnontheoretical
507 2.6

About how something works in real life rather than in ideas

emphasizes being based on experience or real events rather than mere usefulness
experiential
vsnontheoretical
10 6.5

Based on what people do, not on ideas

is based on practical situations and general usefulness rather than personal experience
phenomenological
vsnontheoretical
1 9.6

Based on what people see or measure, not on theory

is grounded in hands-on use and real situations rather than observation alone

Antonyms

133 6.3

Relating to ideas and basic rules rather than practical use

How Theoretical

theoretical
133 6.3
nontheoretical
7.2
practical
507 2.6

Surface Forms

nontheoretical positive

Morphology

nontheoretical = theoretical (transparent) = non + theory + ical

Standard productive prefixation of 'non-' to the adjective 'theoretical', yielding 'not theoretical'.

Etymology

Nontheoretical comes from non- meaning 'not' and theory meaning 'ideas or explanations'. So nontheoretical means 'not based on theory' but on real experience or practical work.