Skip to content
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

empirical

/ˌɛmˈpɪɹɪkəl/

Press play to hear how to pronounce empirical.

American Pronunciation Guide · 0:55
Watch on YouTube ↗
LISTEN FOR THIS

Give “pir” the main stress.

The opening syllable has a smaller beat. Keep the second syllable strongest, and let the final light vowel lead directly into l.

4 syllables · Stress on syllable 2

TRY SAYING
The argument needs empirical support.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

What does empirical mean?

adjective

  1. Pertaining to or based on experience, as opposed to theory.
  2. Pertaining to, derived from, or testable by observations made using the physical senses or using instruments which extend the senses.
  3. Verifiable by means of scientific experimentation.
More meanings (1)

noun

  1. A measurement or result achieved by empirical means.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˌɛmˈpɪɹɪkəl/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Other dictionary pronunciations

/ɪmˈpɪɹɪkəl//ɛmˈpɪɹɪkəl/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Our derivative knowledge always depends upon some pure a priori knowledge and usually also depends upon some pure empirical knowledge.
Bertrand RussellThe Problems of PhilosophyProject Gutenberg ebook #5827
Recent research, it is true, has discovered greater empirical discontinuity--leaps, "mutations"--whereas Darwin believed in the importance of small variations slowly accumulated.
A. C. (Albert Charles) SewardDarwin and Modern ScienceProject Gutenberg ebook #1909
More book examples (3)
Properly to bound our discussion of Humian skepticism, a few words have to be said concerning the empirical method of the sciences.
Hans GrossCriminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and StudentsTranslated by Horace Meyer KallenProject Gutenberg ebook #1320
It is mainly important, from our point of view, to separate reactions possessing an empirical value from those whose value is zero.
Grace Helen Kent; A. J. (Aaron Joshua) RosanoffA Study of Association in InsanityProject Gutenberg ebook #9172
Atoms, molecules, chemical formulae, the mathematical propositions in the study of physics--all these have primarily an intellectual value and only indirectly an empirical value.
John DeweyDemocracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of EducationProject Gutenberg ebook #852