Word.ws English Dictionary

theoric

/θiːˈɒɹɪk/

theoric noun: theory, as opposed to practice.

Noun

theoric (plural theorics)

  1. (obsolete) Theory, as opposed to practice.
    • So that the art and practic part of life Must be the mistress to this theoric1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • We travel into Italie to learne the art of fencing, and practise it at the cost of our lives, before we know it; it were requisite, according to the order of true discipline, we should preferre the theorike before the practike.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 27, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

Adjective

theoric (comparative more theoric, superlative most theoric)

  1. (obsolete) Relating to, or skilled in, theory; theoretical.
    • A man but young, / Yet old in judgment, theoric and practic / In all humanity1619, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field, The Fatal Dowry
  2. Relating to the Ancient Greek Theorica.

Forms of theoric

Noun
pluraltheorics
Adjective
comparativemore theoric
superlativemost theoric

Origin of theoric

From Middle English theorike, from Old French theorique, probably from Medieval Latin *theōrica, from Ancient Greek θεωρική (theōrikḗ).

From Middle English theoryk, from Latin theōricus and Middle French theorique. By surface analysis, theory + -ic.

Questions about theoric

What does theoric mean?
Theoric means theory, as opposed to practice.
What part of speech is theoric?
Theoric can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce theoric?
Theoric is pronounced /θiːˈɒɹɪk/.
What is the plural of theoric?
The plural of theoric is theorics.

Words near theoric in the dictionary

  1. theoretizations
  2. theoretize
  3. theoretized
  4. theoretizes
  5. theoretizing
  6. theoric
  7. Theorica
  8. theorical
  9. theorically
  10. theorician
  11. theoricians

Source and license

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