Loading page
say it: THIR-ee
theory is a noun meaning "a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena". It carries 3 recorded senses.
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena
“theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses”
“true in fact and theory”
a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena
“a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory”
“he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for theory come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.