Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use theory in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun

Theory means a description of an event or system that is considered to be accurate. Example: “Knot theory classifies the mappings of a circle into 3-space.”

Examples of theory by meaning

nounA coherent statement or set of ideas that explains observed facts or phenomena and correctly predicts new facts or...

  • Does this mean, then, that there can be no such thing as a theory of literature?1990, Tony Bennett, Outside Literature, page 139
  • It was only when Einstein's theory of relativity was published in 1915 that physicists could show that Mercury's "anomaly" was actually because Newton's gravitational theory was incomplete.2002 May 23, Duncan Steel, The Guardian
  • Scientists and creationists are understanding the word "theory" in two very different senses.2009, Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, Bantam, page 10

nounThe underlying principles or methods of a given technical skill, art etc., as opposed to its practice.

  • Lopukhov wrote a number of books and articles on ballet theory, as well as his memoirs.1998, Elizabeth Souritz, The Great History of Russian Ballet

nounA field of study attempting to exhaustively describe a particular class of constructs.

  • Knot theory classifies the mappings of a circle into 3-space.
  • It's just a theory I have, and I wonder if women would agree.1999, Wes DeMott, Vapors
  • The theory is that by stripping costs to the bone, they are able to offer ludicrously low fares.2003 June 21, Sean Coughlan, The Guardian

nounA set of axioms together with all statements derivable from them; or, a set of statements which are deductively closed....

  • A theory is consistent if it has a model.

More sentences with theory

  • This theory still holds good even if much higher temperatures are assumed.From the entry good
  • At the time, Einstein's theory was unknown to most other scientists.From the entry known
  • Now that more experiments have been run, the theory is certain and the argument is settled.From the entry certain
  • Functional analysis is best approached through a sound knowledge of Hilbert space theory.From the entry space
  • The professor seemed offended by the criticism of her pet theory.From the entry pet
  • There are two alternative theories as to why this phenomenon occurs.From the entry alternative
  • The application of a theory to a set of data can be challenging.From the entry application
  • Gravity waves, while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect.From the entry wave
  • The chink in the theory is that the invaders have superior muskets.From the entry chink
  • That may work in theory, but will it work in practice?From the entry practice
  • Luckily, such ideas about race are extinct in current sociological theory.From the entry extinct
  • Today I'll expound at length the theory that I propounded last year.From the entry propound
  • His inscrutable theories would years later become the foundation of a whole new science.From the entry inscrutable
  • We have a theory, but we haven't found a smoking gun yet.From the entry smoking gun
  • The reverend doctor will enlighten us with a lecture on the germ theory.From the entry reverend
  • Some people swear by the theory that a darker-yolked egg makes for a more nutritious meal.From the entry yolked
  • The theory of evolution states that all life on Earth has a common ancestor.From the entry common ancestor
  • Would you like to take a stab at explaining the theory?From the entry take a stab at
  • We felt confident about our previous theory, but the results of the latest experiments don't fit in.From the entry fit in
  • The professor of complexity theory says that the problem can be solved in polynomial time.From the entry complexity theory
  • She cites other scholars' work only insofar as it supports her own theories.From the entry insofar as
  • Don't get him started on conspiracy theories, or you'll never hear the end of it!From the entry don't get someone started
  • This case was germinal to development of the theory of joint participation.From the entry germinal
  • Once the final experiment had been performed, the theory was conclusively proved.From the entry conclusively
  • The confirmation of the theory relied on evidence from the micrometazoan elements of the fossile record.From the entry micrometazoan
  • In supersymmetry theory, all bosons have fermionic counterparts, known as bosinos.From the entry -ino
  • I would like to know more about the underpinning of this political theory.From the entry underpinning
  • In a logical theory, tautologies could be regarded as being syncategorematic and contingencies as being categorematic.From the entry syncategorematic
  • It was a promising idea, but the evidence did not bear out their theory.From the entry bear out
  • Our theory in use is often different from the one we espouse to.From the entry in use
  • That sounds fine in theory, but will it work in practice?From the entry in theory
  • Pseudovarieties are of particular importance in the study of finite semigroups and hence in formal language theory.From the entry pseudovariety

Meaning of theory

  1. noun A description of an event or system that is considered to be accurate.
  2. noun A coherent statement or set of ideas that explains observed facts or phenomena and correctly predicts new facts or phenomena not previously observed, or which sets out the laws and principles of something known or observed; a hypothesis confirmed by observation, experiment etc.
  3. noun The underlying principles or methods of a given technical skill, art etc., as opposed to its practice.

Full definition of theory

Questions about theory in a sentence

How do you use theory in a sentence?
Theory is used as a noun. For example: “Knot theory classifies the mappings of a circle into 3-space.”
What is a short sentence with theory?
“A theory is consistent if it has a model.”
What does theory mean?
Theory means a description of an event or system that is considered to be accurate.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: theory (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.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use theory in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/theory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.