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categorically

adverb

Simple meaning

Absolutely; in all regards.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

katuhgahrihklee

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

kætəˈɡɑɹɪkli

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adverb

  1. modal

    Absolutely; in all regards (leaving no doubt or ambiguity).

  2. In a categorical manner.

  3. In an unqualified manner

  4. By the use of categories; defining a category; defined by, or corollary to, a category.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (modal) Absolutely; in all regards (leaving no doubt or ambiguity).

Used this way, categorically is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

stated categoricallycategorically differentcategorically opposedcategorically denycategorically rejectcategorically declared

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • categoricaladjectiveBase word

    Relating to or included in a category or categories.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • categorynounDerived noun · specialist

    A collection of things sharing a common attribute.

  • categorizeverbDerived verb

    Place into or assign to a category.

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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.