Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use theoretical in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Theoretical means of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical. Example: “I don’t know all the theoretical abracadabra about how it works, I’m only its pilot.”

Examples of theoretical by meaning

adjectiveOf or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical.

  • We may look upon this figure as representing in section a theoretical wing-form, or aerofoil1907, Aerodynamics, constituting the first volume of a complete work on aerial flight, page 163
  • This theoretical weapon would drop telephone pole sized rods of dense tungsten from a satellite in orbit.2025 May 12, Jeff Edwards, “Rods from God: Unleashing Orbital Kinetic Bombardment as a Theoretical Defense System”, in Mira Safety

More sentences with theoretical

  • I don’t know all the theoretical abracadabra about how it works, I’m only its pilot.From the entry abracadabra
  • Bohr's theoretical construct of the atom was soon superseded by quantum mechanics.From the entry construct
  • The Edisonian approach to innovation is characterized by trial-and-error discovery rather than a systematic theoretical approach.From the entry Edisonian
  • Glueballs, theoretical particles composed only of gluons, are exotics.From the entry exotic
  • He was practically educated and lacked theoretical depth.From the entry practically
  • The last week was devoted to an equally theoretical threat—weaponized cognitohazards.2018, Paul Briggs, Altered Seasons: Monsoonrise, Secant Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry cognitohazard
  • As a result, if facts disconfirm the officially sanctioned theoretical vision, they are subordinated.2016 September 14, Paul Romer, “The Trouble with Macroeconomics”, in Working paper, page 15. From the entry disconfirm
  • This robopsychological approach raises some fundamental theoretical questions of machine learning.2016, Norbert Bátfai, “Theoretical Robopsychology: Samu Has Learned Turing Machines”, in arXiv. From the entry robopsychological
  • Table 1 summarizes the major theoretical influences on the idea of rhetography.2016, Taiwo, Rotimi, Odebunmi, Akinola, Adetunji, & Akin, Analyzing Language and Humor in Online Communication, →ISBN, page 103. From the entry rhetography
  • These perverbs are consistent with the cognitive view's emphasis on the theoretical import of idiosyncratic proverbs.2013, Richard P. Honeck, A Proverb in Mind: The Cognitive Science of Proverbial Wit and Wisdom, page 186. From the entry perverb
  • What and why does Okishian theory locate the theoretical boundary separating the internal from the external?2012 March, Yoshikazu Sato, “Okishio Theory Revisited in the Light of 'Axiomatic Externality'”, in Journal of International Economic…. From the entry Okishian
  • Maturationism is a theoretical perspective that emphasizes the contribution of biological processes to children's development.2007, Moncrieff Cochran, Rebecca S. New, Early Childhood Education, page 509. From the entry maturationism
  • The knowledge of metal interactions, however, is of great theoretical and practical importance.2002, Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science - Volume 8, page 84. From the entry ichthyotoxicology
  • This was one of the great missed opportunities of theoretical physics.2001 November, Stephen Hawking, “A Brief History of Relativity”, in The Universe in a Nutshell, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 21. From the entry telescope
  • Taking account of data limitations in theoretical work is one thing.1991, Jacob A. Frenkel, Morris Goldstein, International Financial Policy: Essays in honor of Jacques J Polak, →ISBN, page 8. From the entry making bricks without straw
  • Theoretical partitioning and resource allocation for the Gaussian elimination method used to solve the matrix are discussed.1989, Richard A. Blech, “Parallel Gaussian Elimination of a Block Tridiagonal Matrix Using Multiple Microcomputers”, in Technical Report…. From the entry Gaussian elimination
  • Thus the second category of practica, which included carpentry and masoncraft, mirrored the theoretical science of mathematics.1979, Richard Morris, Cathedrals and Abbeys of England and Wales, page 105. From the entry masoncraft
  • Chirkov has published a theoretical study in the Soviet Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics.1964 February, Wallace Cloud, “Science newsfront”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 184, number 2, →ISSN, page 29. From the entry graser
  • This week, that scenario started to feel less theoretical.2026 April 11, Kevin Collier, “The 'Vulnpocalypse': Why experts fear AI could tip the scales toward hackers”, in NBC News, archived from…. From the entry vulnpocalypse
  • Once limited to theoretical physics and comic-book plot conveniences, the notion of a multiverse has been an essential tool for Hollywood.2022 April 23, Kevin Townsend, Shirley Li, David Sims, Spencer Kornhaber, “Everything Everywhere All at Once Is Multiverse Storytelling at…. From the entry multiverse
  • It’s a theoretical framework that illuminates society’s inability to recognize our humanity — the disdain, disregard and disgust for our existence.2020 June 4, Kihana Miraya Ross, “Call It What It Is: Anti-Blackness”, in New York Times. From the entry antiblackness
  • Problems with neoevolution and cultural ecology inevitably led to a strong theoretical response both in sociocultural anthropology and archaeology.2019 June 3, “Chapter 1: Introduction”, in Anna Marie Prentiss, editor, Handbook of Evolutionary Research in Archaeology, Springer…. From the entry neoevolution
  • Moreover, shifting to quantum-resistant algorithms and encryption is theoretical and thus uncertain, but will surely be expensive and a decades-long endeavor.2019 September 10, Glenn S. Gerstell, “I Work for N.S.A. We Cannot Afford to Lose the Digital Revolution.”, in The New York Times, New…. From the entry quantum-resistant
  • Outlines of a systemic relation between society and ecology are evident with the theoretical innovations underlying the ecoimperialist and colonialist critiques.2017, Paul Thompson, Environmental Justice. From the entry colonialist
  • First, a scientific language has assertorial content by making assertorial commitments to the existence of certain theoretical entities.2017, Xinli Wang, Incommensurability and Cross-Language Communication. From the entry assertorial
  • Based on incomplete data, estimators for bandable and sparse covariance matrices are proposed and their theoretical and numerical properties are investigated.2016, T. Tony Cai, Anru Zhang, “Minimax Rate-optimal Estimation of High-dimensional Covariance Matrices with Incomplete Data”, in arXiv. From the entry bandable
  • Theoretical considerations appear to indicate that the axion mass should be somewhere between the microelectron volt and millielectron volt range.2015, Paul Seidel, editor, Applied Superconductivity: Handbook on Devices and Applications, page 857. From the entry axion
  • CEM shows good agreement with both theoretical and experimental results.2015, A ABDEL-HAFIEZ, SHAKER EL-SHATER, M F ZAKI, “Simulated nucleon–nucleon and nucleon–nucleus reactions in the frame of the cascade…. From the entry cem
  • Nobody wants to hear that theoretical physics has less to do with shiny lasery stuff and more to do with numbers.2014, Claudia Gray [pseudonym; Amy Vincent], A Thousand Pieces of You, New York, N.Y.: HarperTeen, →ISBN, page 35. From the entry lasery
  • Foundational investigations in quantum mechanics, both experimental and theoretical, gave birth to the field of quantum information science.2013 January 6, Schlosshauer Maximilian with Kofler Johannes and Zeilinger Anton, “A Snapshot of Foundational Attitudes Toward Quantum…. From the entry quantum information science
  • The presentation of this notion stimulated a birthquake of theoretical development and research in the field of urban sociology.2013, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, Family and Support Systems across the Life Span, page 11. From the entry birthquake
  • You can make most theory answers without cards, but some cards do exist which specifically criticize kritiks on a theoretical basis.2011, N. Andre Cossette, The Art of Debate: 12th Edition, page 123. From the entry card
  • From a theoretical perspective, income tax is often said to be structured on either a global or a schedular basis.2010, Hugh J. Ault, Comparative Income Taxation: A Structural Analysis, page 197. From the entry schedular
  • This work focuses on theoretical analysis of lock-in thermography.2010 June 10, Liu Junyan, Wang Yang and Dai Jingmin, “Research on thermal wave processing of lock-in thermography based on analyzing image…. From the entry wave processing
  • There is little statistical theoretical theory for copulas.2009, N. Balakrishnan, Chin-Diew Lai, Continuous Bivariate Distributions, page 59. From the entry copula
  • As a series of polysemic and paradoxical sketches, Jackass does not lend itself to one particular theoretical analysis.2007, Sean Brayton, “MTV's Jackass: Transgression, Abjection and the Economy of White Masculinity”, in Journal of Gender Studies, volume…. From the entry polysemic
  • “I just completed my boards in theoretical xenopathology.2006, Marc D. Giller, Prodigal. From the entry xenopathology
  • At one time, this might have been rationalized by the paucity of empirics in the field or its weak theoretical foundations.2001, Donald R. Davis, David E. Weinstein, What Role for Empirics in International Trade?. From the entry empirics

Meaning of theoretical

  1. adjective Of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical.

Full definition of theoretical

Questions about theoretical in a sentence

How do you use theoretical in a sentence?
Theoretical is used as an adjective. For example: “I don’t know all the theoretical abracadabra about how it works, I’m only its pilot.”
What is a short sentence with theoretical?
“He was practically educated and lacked theoretical depth.”
What does theoretical mean?
Theoretical means of or relating to theory; abstract; not empirical.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: theoretical (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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