a priori en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˌeɪ pɹaɪˈoɹaɪ/ (General-American)
- /ˌɑː pɹiˈɔːɹi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˌeɪ pɹiˈoɹi/ (General-American)
- /ˌeɪ pɹaɪˈɔːɹaɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˌɑ pɹiˈoɹi/ (General-American)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˌæ pɹiˈoɹi/ (General-American)
Etymology
First attested in 1610. Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin ā priōrī (“involving reasoning from cause to effect; from first principles”, literally “from the former”).
Meanings
- Self-evident, intuitively obvious.
- Presumed without analysis.
-
Based on hypothesis and theory rather than experiment or empirical evidence.
In his opening argument, the student mentioned nothing beyond his a priori knowledge.
While the great critics drew their authority from the breadth of their reading, New Criterion critics often base their authority on an a priori rejection of the contemporary.
1996, Jeet Heer, Gravitas, Autumn 1996:
-
Developed entirely from scratch, without deriving it from existing languages.
Conlangers can also create a priori languages, which have no basis in existing languages. You might be familiar with more a priori conlangs than you think: The Klingon language from the television series “Star Trek,” the Na’vi language from the movie “Avatar,” and the Dothraki language from the television series “Game of Thrones” are all examples of a priori languages.
2012 November 1, Laura Wright, “UT Language Creation Society invites students to learn origins of newer languages”, in The Daily Texan, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2013:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most a priori | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| apriori | alternative | lexicographic | |
| more a priori | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
apriorism · aprioristic · apriorist · apriority
Relateds
Synonyms
Translations (42)
el συμπερασματικός (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · fi fiktiivinen (linguistics: developed entirely from scratch) · es a priori (self-evident, intuitively obvious) · fi oletusarvoinen (self-evident, intuitively obvious) · ru априо́рный (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · fi lähtökohtainen (presumed without analysis) · hi प्रागनुभविक (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · it teorico (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · vi tiên nghiệm (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · cmn 先驗 /先验 (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · it a priori (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · pl aprioryczny (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · es a priori (linguistics: developed entirely from scratch) · pl apriorystyczny (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · ru доо́пытный (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · pt a priori (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · pl a priori (presumed without analysis) · ar لَا يُحْتَاجُ إِثْبَاتَة إِلَى تَجْرِبَة (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · ar مُسَلَّم بِه (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · tl matwiranin (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · ko 선험적인 (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · hi अनुभवनिरपेक्ष (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · fi apriorinen (presumed without analysis) · be апрыёрны (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · da a priori (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · fi itsestään selvä (self-evident, intuitively obvious) · fi hypoteettinen (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · it preconcetto (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · uk апріо́рний (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · pl a priori (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · es a priori (presumed without analysis) · fi apriorinen (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · nb a priori (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · pl a priori (linguistics: developed entirely from scratch) · el επαγωγικός (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · es a priori (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · tr önsel (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · fi oletusarvoinen (presumed without analysis) · tr apriori (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment) · pl a priori (self-evident, intuitively obvious) · fi itsestäänselvä (self-evident, intuitively obvious) · ru предположи́тельный (logic: based on hypothesis rather than experiment)