a priori
/ˌɑː pɹiˈɔːɹi/US/ˌɑ pɹiˈoɹi/
a priori adjective: self-evident, intuitively obvious.
Adjective
a priori (comparative more a priori, superlative most a priori)
- Self-evident, intuitively obvious.
- Presumed without analysis.
- Based on hypothesis and theory rather than experiment or empirical evidence.
- In his opening argument, the student mentioned nothing beyond his a priori knowledge.
- While the great critics drew their authority from the breadth of their reading, New Criterion critics often base their authority on an a priori rejection of the contemporary.1996, Jeet Heer, Gravitas, Autumn 1996
- Developed entirely from scratch, without deriving it from existing languages.
- Conlangers can also create a priori languages, which have no basis in existing languages. You might be familiar with more a priori conlangs than you think: The Klingon language from the television series “Star Trek,” the Na’vi language from the movie “Avatar,” and the Dothraki language from the...2012 November 1, Laura Wright, “UT Language Creation Society invites students to learn origins of newer languages”, in The Daily Texan, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2013
Adverb
a priori (comparative more a priori, superlative most a priori)
- In a way based on theoretical deduction rather than empirical observation.
- Synonyms:
- deductively[Appendix:Glossary
- Antonyms:
- a posteriori, inductively
a priori meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Tagalog
a priori in Hindi
- logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment
- प्रागनुभविक prāgnubhvik, अनुभवनिरपेक्ष anubhvanirpekṣ
- derived by logic
- पूर्वसिद्ध pūrvasiddh
a priori in Tamil
- முன்னறி, காரண காரிய முறையான, விதி தருமுறையில் அமைந்த, மூலத்திலிருந்து விளைவு காணும் முறையில், காரண காரியமாக
a priori in Malayalam
- theoretical, deduced, deductive
- കാര്യത്തിൽനിന്നു കാരണത്തെ തെളിയിക്കുന്ന, സെെദ്ധാന്തികമായ, താത്ത്വിക, സെെദ്ധാന്തികനിഗമനമായ, സിദ്ധാന്തപരമായ, ആനുമാനിക
- theoretically, deductively, scientifically
- സെെദ്ധന്തികമായി, സിദ്ധാന്തപരമായി, അനുമാനപരമായി, യഥാശാസ്ത്രം, ശാസ്ത്രീയമായി
a priori in Tagalog
- logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment
- matwiranin
More languagesFewer languages
- a priori in Arabic
- مُسَلَّم بِه musallam bih, لَا يُحْتَاجُ إِثْبَاتَة إِلَى تَجْرِبَة, مُسَبَّق musabbaq
- a priori in Vietnamese
- tiên nghiệm
Synonyms of a priori
- deductively[Appendix:Glossary
- deductive
Antonyms
Forms of a priori
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more a priori |
| superlative | most a priori |
| alternative form | apriori |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more a priori |
| superlative | most a priori |
Origin of a priori
First attested in 1610. Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin ā priōrī (“involving reasoning from cause to effect; from first principles”, literally “from the former”).
Words formed from a priori
Words that rhyme with a priori
9 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about a priori
- What does a priori mean?
- A priori means self-evident, intuitively obvious.
- What is a priori in Hindi?
- A priori in Hindi is प्रागनुभविक (prāgnubhvik), अनुभवनिरपेक्ष (anubhvanirpekṣ), पूर्वसिद्ध (pūrvasiddh). See A priori meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is a priori?
- A priori can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce a priori?
- A priori is pronounced /ˌɑː pɹiˈɔːɹi/ (UK).
Words near a priori in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: a priori (page history and authors); a priori (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); a priori (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-a priori.wav.
Cite this entry: “a priori.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/a_priori. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.