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Pertaining to theory; depending on, or confined to, theory or speculation; speculative; terminating in theory or speculation: not practical; as, theoretical learning; theoretic sciences. -- The`o*ret"ic*al*ly, adv.

Relating to, or skilled in, theory; theoretically skilled. [Obs.] A man but young, Yet old in judgment, theoric and practic In all humanity. Massinger.

One who forms theories; one given to theory and speculation; a speculatist. Cowper. The greatest theoretists have given the preference to such a government as that which obtains in this kingdom. Addison.

The act or product of theorizing; the formation of a theory or theories; speculation.

To form a theory or theories; to form opinions solely by theory; to speculate.

One addicted to theosophy. The theosophist is one who gives you a theory of God, or of the works of God, which has not reason, but an inspiration of his own, for its basis. R. A. Vaughan.

One skilled in the theory or use of torpedoes; also, one who favors the use of torpedoes.

An adherent of a theory, the transmission theory, that the brain serves to "transmit," rather than to originate, conclusions, and hence that consciousness may exist independently of the brain.

The change of one species into another, which is assumed to take place in any development theory of life; transformism. Bacon. Transmutation of metals (Alchem.), the conversion of base metals into gold or silver, a process often attempted by the alchemists. See Alchemy, and Philosopher's stone, under Philosopher.…

A theory of the development of mammalian molar teeth. The primitive stage is that of simple cones, as in reptiles. The simple cone then developed a smaller cone in front and another behind. Next, a cingulum was developed, and the three cones became arranged in a triangle, the two smaller cusps having moved to the outer…

Any theory which conceives chance as an objective reality; esp., a theory of evolution which considers that variation may be purely fortuitous.

To be at the basis of; to form the foundation of; to support; as, a doctrine underlying a theory.

One who advocates the undulatory theory of light. Whewell.

fall; pertaining to a propagated alternating motion, similar to that of waves. Undulatory theory, or Wave theory (of light) (Opt.), that theory which regards its various phenomena as due to undulations in an ethereal medium, propagated from the radiant with immense, but measurable, velocities, and producing different i…

a unit of measure or value; as 1 foot, 1 dollar, 1 pound, and the like. -- Complex unit (Theory of Numbers), an imaginary number of the form a + b-1, when a2 + b2 = 1. -- Duodecimal unit, a unit in the scale of numbers increasing or decreasing by twelves. -- Fractional unit, the unit of a fraction; the reciprocal of…

Of the nature of a unit; not divided; united. Unitary theory (Chem.), the modern theory that the molecules of all complete compounds are units, whose parts are bound together in definite structure, with mutual and reciprocal influence on each other, and are not mere aggregations of more or less complex groups; -- disti…

The theory or practice of living upon vegetables and fruits.

re with mahogany. Used also figuratively. As a rogue in grain Veneered with sanctimonious theory. Tennyson.

gh we go to the extreme verge of possibility to invent a supposition favorable to it, the theory . . . implies an absurdity. J. S. Mill. But on the horizon's verge descried, Hangs, touched with light, one snowy sail. M. Arnold.

A believer in the theory of vitalism; -- opposed to physicist.