Dictionary

theorise en · VERB

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Hellenic *tʰáwā Ancient Greek θέᾱ (théā) Proto-Indo-European *wer-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ-der. Proto-Indo-European *weyd-der. Ancient Greek ὁράω (horáō) Ancient Greek *θεᾱ-(ϝ)ορός, *θεη-(ϝ)ορός (*theā-(w)orós, *theē-(w)orós) Ancient Greek θεωρός (theōrós) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek θεωρία (theōría)bor. Late Latin theōrialbor. Middle French théoriebor. English theory English -ise English theorise From theory + -ise.

Meanings

1. (UK, alt-of, nonstandard) Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of theorize, particularly
   alt of particularly
   alt of theorize
2. (intransitive) Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of theorize ▸ to theorize (to formulate a theory, especially about some specific subject)
   • Because she was a known hitchhiker in the neighbourhood, police theorised that she must have gotten into a vehicle willingly with someone she either knew slightly or trusted on sight. This theory was never disproven or confirmed. 2026 July 29, Nicholas Muhoro, “Amy Billig Vanished While Hitchhiking Through Coconut Grove. Then the Calls Began”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2026:
   • To explore effective pedagogies to motivate these bilingual doctoral researchers to theorise translingually, this paper draws upon methodologies about translingualism and intercultural doctoral education to dispel the recurrent doubts raised by these bilingual doctoral researchers. 2023 October 14, Haibo Shen, “JIĀO/JIÀO 教 Chinese bilingual doctoral researchers to theorise translingually: A pedagogy for intercultural doctoral education”, in Linguistics and Education, volume 77, →DOI:
   • In Physics of the Impossible, he theorises about how the gadgets that turn up in works by authors from HG Wells to JK Rowling (as well as the cardboard-scenery sci-fi TV of our youth) may become reality. 2009 February 5, Sophia Martelli, “Beam us up, Michio”, in The Guardian:

Forms

Deriveds

untheorised · mistheorise