a priori
adjective · adverb
Simple meaning
Based on hypothesis and theory rather than experiment or empirical evidence.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhpreeawreeIPA pronunciation (US)
əpɹiɔɹi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
logic
Based on hypothesis and theory rather than experiment or empirical evidence.
Self-evident, intuitively obvious.
Presumed without analysis.
adverb
logic
In a way based on theoretical deduction rather than empirical observation.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (logic) Based on hypothesis and theory rather than experiment or empirical evidence.
Used this way, a priori is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in academic writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.