categorical
/ˌkætəˈɡɒɹɪk(ə)l/
categorical means absolute; having no exception. It carries an Arena rating of 1398, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, categorical ranks #1,114 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #4,260 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #6,084 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,875 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say.
categorical is pronounced /ˌkætəˈɡɒɹɪk(ə)l/.
Why “categorical” is a great word
Absolute and unqualified, allowing for no exceptions or conditions. From Late Latin catēgoricus (from Greek katēgorikós "accusatory, affirmative") + the adjectival suffix -al; Greek katēgorikós derives from katēgoros "accusation, assertion, predicate" (kata- "against" + agoreuein "to declare, speak"). First recorded in English use in the 1590s as a logical term. Unlike “conditional,” which lives within the confines of *if* and *when*, or “nuanced,” which thrives on subtle gradation, the categorical is a stark edifice, built without qualification. It is the judge’s gavel falling, the burned bridge, the dry, unyielding scent of paper stamped 'non-negotiable'—a word that refuses the comfort of retreat, holding fast to its own certainty even as the world trembles in ambiguity.
Etymology
From Late Latin catēgoricus + -al. By surface analysis, category + -ical.
adj
- Absolute; having no exception.e.g.“We now see that they [propositions] are either conditional or unconditional, or, as the logicians say, hypothetical (conditional) or categorical (unconditional).” — 1856, Robert Gordon Latham, Logic in the Application to Language:
- Of, pertaining to, or using a category or categories.
noun
- A categorical proposition.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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