theory

Etymology
From, from , from , from , from , from +  [i. e. θέαν ὁράω (théan horáō, “see, look at a view; survey + genitive”)].

Noun

 * 1)  A description of an event or system that is considered to be accurate.
 * 2)   A coherent statement or set of ideas that explains observed facts or phenomena and correctly predicts new facts or phenomena not previously observed, or which sets out the laws and principles of something known or observed; a hypothesis confirmed by observation, experiment etc.
 * 3) * 1843,, ""A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, ..., Bk V, Ch 7:
 * In its most proper acceptation, theory means the completed result of philosophical induction from experience.
 * 1)   The underlying principles or methods of a given technical skill, art etc., as opposed to its practice.
 * 2)   A field of study attempting to exhaustively describe a particular class of constructs.
 * Knot theory classifies the mappings of a circle into 3-space.
 * 1)  A hypothesis or conjecture.
 * 2)   A set of axioms together with all statements derivable from them; or, a set of statements which are . Equivalently, a formal language plus a set of axioms (from which can then be derived theorems). The statements may be required to all be bound (i.e., to have no free variables).
 * A theory is consistent if it has a model.
 * 1)   Mental conception; reflection, consideration.
 * 1)   A field of study attempting to exhaustively describe a particular class of constructs.
 * Knot theory classifies the mappings of a circle into 3-space.
 * 1)  A hypothesis or conjecture.
 * 2)   A set of axioms together with all statements derivable from them; or, a set of statements which are . Equivalently, a formal language plus a set of axioms (from which can then be derived theorems). The statements may be required to all be bound (i.e., to have no free variables).
 * A theory is consistent if it has a model.
 * 1)   Mental conception; reflection, consideration.
 * 1)   A set of axioms together with all statements derivable from them; or, a set of statements which are . Equivalently, a formal language plus a set of axioms (from which can then be derived theorems). The statements may be required to all be bound (i.e., to have no free variables).
 * A theory is consistent if it has a model.
 * 1)   Mental conception; reflection, consideration.

Usage notes
In scientific discourse, the sense “unproven conjecture” is discouraged (with or  preferred), due to unintentional ambiguity and intentional equivocation with the sense “well-developed statement or structure”.

Synonyms

 * See also Thesaurus:supposition

Meronyms

 * s

Translations

 * Albanian:
 * Arabic:
 * Armenian: ,
 * Azerbaijani: nəzəriyyə, teoriya
 * Belarusian: тэо́рыя
 * Bengali:
 * Bulgarian:
 * Burmese:
 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: ,
 * Czech:
 * Danish: teori
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: teorio
 * Estonian:
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * Galician:
 * Georgian: თეორია
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Haitian Creole: teori
 * Hebrew:, תֵּאוֹרְיָה
 * Hindi:, नज़रिया,
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic:
 * Ido:
 * Indonesian:
 * Irish: teoiric
 * Old Irish: teöir, teoiricecht
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: ,
 * Kazakh: теория
 * Khmer:
 * Korean:, ,
 * Kyrgyz:
 * Lao:
 * Latvian: teorija
 * Lithuanian: teorija
 * Macedonian: теорија
 * Malay:
 * Malayalam:
 * Maltese: teorija
 * Maori: ariā
 * Marathi: सिद्धांत
 * Mongolian:
 * Cyrillic:
 * Moroccan Amazigh: ⵜⵉⵥⵕⵉ
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: teori
 * Nynorsk: teori
 * Occitan:
 * Pashto: ,
 * Persian: ,
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: тѐо̄рија
 * Roman:
 * Slovak: teória
 * Slovene:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Tagalog: huna
 * Tajik:, теория
 * Thai:
 * Turkish:, ,
 * Turkmen: teoriýa
 * Ukrainian: тео́рія
 * Urdu: نظریہ
 * Uyghur: نەزەرىيە
 * Uzbek: ,
 * Vietnamese:, ,
 * Volapük:
 * Welsh: damcaniaeth
 * Yiddish: טעאָריע


 * Arabic:
 * Armenian:
 * Bulgarian:
 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Danish: teori
 * Dutch:
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * Galician:
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Hindi: नज़रिया
 * Indonesian:
 * Irish: teoiric
 * Italian:
 * Japanese:, , ,
 * Macedonian: теорија
 * Malay:
 * Maltese: teorija
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: teori
 * Nynorsk: teori
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian: ,
 * Scottish Gaelic: beachd-smaoin
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: тѐо̄рија
 * Roman:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Tagalog: huna
 * Thai:
 * Turkish:, ,
 * Volapük:
 * Yiddish: טעאָריע


 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: ,
 * Czech:
 * Danish: teori
 * Dutch:
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:
 * Galician:
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Hindi:
 * Indonesian:
 * Irish: teoiric
 * Italian:
 * Japanese:, ,
 * Macedonian: теорија
 * Malay:
 * Maltese: teorija
 * Mongolian:
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: teori
 * Nynorsk: teori
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: тѐо̄рија
 * Roman:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Tagalog: huna
 * Turkish:, ,
 * Welsh: damcaniaeth


 * Catalan:
 * Czech:
 * Dutch:
 * Finnish:
 * Galician:
 * German:
 * Indonesian:
 * Irish: teoiric
 * Italian:
 * Japanese:
 * Macedonian: теорија
 * Malay:
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: teori
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian: teorii
 * Russian:
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic: тѐо̄рија
 * Roman:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Turkish: ,
 * Welsh: damcaniaeth


 * Indonesian:
 * Italian:
 * Turkish:
 * Vietnamese: ,