Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

categorical

/ˌkætəˈɡɔɹɪk(ə)l/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 2.88 in modern English

Syllables: cat-e-gor-i-cal
IPA: /ˌkætəˈɡɔɹɪk(ə)l/

16

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

5

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Absolute; having no exception.

adj

Of, pertaining to, or using a category or categories.

noun

A categorical proposition.

Example Sentences

"We now see that they [propositions] are either conditional or unconditional, or, as the logicians say, hypothetical (conditional) or categorical (unconditional)."
"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."

Etymology

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

Word Breakdown

Suffix: catēgoricus

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˌkætəˈɡɔɹɪk(ə)l/
British English: /ˌkætəˈɡɒɹɪk(ə)l/

Inflected Forms

more categorical (comparative) most categorical (superlative) categoricals (plural)

Derived Forms

acategorical bicategorical categorically categoricalness intercategorical intracategorical multicategorical noncategorical subcategorical transcategorical uncategorical

Phrases

categorical dual categorical imperative categorical product categorical variable

Frequently Paired Words

categoricity

Synonyms

absolute categoric unconditional categorial flat

Antonyms

exceptional conditional hypothetical relative

Questions

How do you pronounce categorical?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌkætəˈɡɔɹɪk(ə)l/.
What does categorical mean?: Absolute; having no exception.
Where does categorical come from?: From Late Latin catēgoricus + -al. By surface analysis, category + -ical.

How to pronounce categorical

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “categorical”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌkætəˈɡɔɹɪk(ə)l/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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