heuristic

Syllables: heu·ris·tic/hjuˈɹɪstɪk//hjəˈɹɪstɪk/

heuristic adjective: that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect; either not following or derived from any theory, or based on an advisedly oversimplified one.

Adjective

heuristic (comparative more heuristic, superlative most heuristic)

(learning, or discovery) That employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect; either not following or derived from any theory, or based on an advisedly oversimplified one.
- "The heuristic appraisal is the 'identification and evaluation of hints and clues that can provide direction to inquiry in the sometimes large gap between the extremes of complete knowledge and complete ignorance'”.2015, Emiliano Ippoliti, Thomas Nickles, Heuristic Reasoning
That provides a useful, but not optimal, solution to a problem. Such algorithms are typically employed either because the only known algorithms that provide optimal solutions use too much time or resources, or else because there is no known algorithm that provides an optimal solution.
- If a heuristic algorithm works for most of the input data or its maximum percentage error is tolerable, we may prefer the heuristic algorithm to an optimum algorithm that requires a long time.2002, Te Chiang Hu, Man-tak Shing, Combinatorial Algorithms
That reasons from the value of a method or principle that has been shown by experimental investigation to be a useful aid in learning, discovery and problem-solving.

Noun

heuristic (plural heuristics)

A heuristic method.
The art of applying heuristic methods.
A heuristic algorithm or method.

heuristic meaning in Tamil, Kannada, Arabic and Indonesian

heuristic in Tamil

அளவை இயலில் கண்டுணர்வு குறை

heuristic in Kannada

ಕಲಿಕೆಗೆ ಅನುವಾಗುವ, ಅನ್ವೇಷಣ ಸಹಾಯಕ, ಕಂಡು ಹಿಡಿಯಲು ಸಹಾಯಕವಾದ, ಶೋಧನಸಾಧಕ, ಶೋಧನಾನುಕೂಲ, ಸ್ವಯಮನ್ವೇಷಣೆ

heuristic in Arabic

relating to general strategies or methods for solving problems: إرشادي

heuristic in Indonesian

relating to general strategies or methods for solving problems: heuristik
in computing, that is not certain to arrive at an optimal solution: heuristik

Examples of heuristic in a sentence

For this problem, the simulated annealing-based heuristic provides a near-optimal solution.
Compared to simulated annealing, the tabu search heuristic performed well.
They think it necessary to specify a third, heuristic sort of ad hocness.

All 16 example sentences with heuristic

Forms of heuristic

Adjective
comparative	more heuristic
superlative	most heuristic
Noun
plural	heuristics

Plural of heuristic: heuristics

Origin of heuristic

Irregular formation from Ancient Greek εὑρίσκω (heurískō, “I find, discover”) (compare the proper Greek term εὑρετικός (heuretikós)).

Words formed from heuristic

Phrases with heuristic

Words that rhyme with heuristic

29 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about heuristic

What does heuristic mean?: Heuristic means that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect; either not following or derived from any theory, or based on an advisedly oversimplified one.
What is heuristic in Tamil?: Heuristic in Tamil is அளவை இயலில் கண்டுணர்வு குறை. See Heuristic meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is heuristic?: Heuristic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce heuristic?: Heuristic is pronounced /hjuˈɹɪstɪk/.

Words near heuristic in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: heuristic (page history and authors); heuristic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heuristic (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-heuristic.ogg.

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