Word.ws English Dictionary

categorical

/ˌkætəˈɡɒɹɪk(ə)l/US/ˌkætəˈɡɔɹɪk(ə)l/

categorical adjective: absolute; having no exception.

Adjective

categorical (comparative more categorical, superlative most categorical)

  1. Absolute; having no exception.
    • We now see that they [propositions] are either conditional or unconditional, or, as the logicians say, hypothetical (conditional) or categorical (unconditional).1856, Robert Gordon Latham, Logic in the Application to Language
    • Daytime interests are clearly not such far-reaching psychical sources of dreams as might have been expected from the categorical assertions that everyone continues to carry on his daily business in his dreams.1900, Sigmund Freud, translated by James Strachey, The Interpretation of Dreams: Avon Books, page 74
  2. Of, pertaining to, or using a category or categories.

Noun

categorical (plural categoricals)

  1. A categorical proposition.

categorical meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

categorical in Tamil

ஆணித்தரமான, உறுதியான, ஐயத்திற்கிடமற்ற, தெளிவான, மறுப்புக்கிடமற்ற, முடிவான

categorical in Bengali

সুস্পষ্ট, দ্ব্যর্থহীন

categorical in Malayalam

വ്യക്തം, സ്പഷ്ടം, നിരുപാധികമായ

categorical in Kannada

ಷರತ್ತಿಲ್ಲದ, ಖಂಡಿತವಾದ, ನಿಖರವಾದ, ದೃಢವಾದ, ಖಚಿತವಾದ, ನಿರ್ಧಾರವಾದ
More languagesFewer languages
categorical in Tagalog
mulisipin

Examples of categorical in a sentence

  • The categorical product generalises the Cartesian product of sets, product of topological spaces and direct product of groups.
  • Once more, we shall base on this categorical principle a hypothetical rule.
  • Antipet liberationists and some moral vegans are in effect endorsing this categorical position.

All 15 example sentences with categorical

Synonyms of categorical

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of categorical

Forms of categorical

Adjective
comparativemore categorical
superlativemost categorical
Noun
pluralcategoricals

Origin of categorical

From Late Latin catēgoricus + -al. By surface analysis, category + -ical.

Words formed from categorical

Phrases with categorical

Questions about categorical

What does categorical mean?
Categorical means absolute; having no exception.
What is categorical in Tamil?
Categorical in Tamil is ஆணித்தரமான, உறுதியான, ஐயத்திற்கிடமற்ற. See Categorical meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is categorical?
Categorical can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce categorical?
Categorical is pronounced /ˌkætəˈɡɒɹɪk(ə)l/ (UK).

Words near categorical in the dictionary

  1. categorial
  2. categorial grammar
  3. categorial grammars
  4. categorially
  5. categoric
  6. categorical
  7. categorical dual
  8. categorical duals
  9. categorical imperative
  10. categorical imperatives
  11. categorical product

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: categorical (page history and authors); categorical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Categorical (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); categorical (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); categorical (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-categorical.wav.

Cite this entry: “categorical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/categorical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.