First Known Use: 1821
Dictionary
1heuristic
adjective heu·ris·tic \hyu̇-ˈris-tik\
: using experience to learn and improve
Full Definition of HEURISTIC
: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods <heuristic techniques> <a heuristic assumption>; also : of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance <a heuristic computer program>
— heu·ris·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb
See heuristic defined for English-language learners
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Examples of HEURISTIC
- If Orbitz prevails, its online reservation process alone may blow away the competition. Unlike mainframe-based systems … , Orbitz uses racks of PCs to search fare data, making it easier to scale up computing power. And its intelligent … algorithms evaluate all the possible fares simultaneously instead of employing heuristic shortcuts designed to use as little computing power as possible. —Evan Ratliff, WIRED, September 2000
- Because “tradition” has served as a powerful heuristic term, we are always in danger of reifying it … —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Reading Black, Reading Feminist, 1990
- Its heuristic principle would be St. Augustine's axiom that the Old Testament is revealed in the New and the New concealed in the Old … —V. B. Leitch, American Literary Criticism from the Thirties to the Eighties, 1988
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Origin of HEURISTIC
German heuristisch, from New Latin heuristicus, from Greek heuriskein to discover; akin to Old Irish fo-fúair he found
Other Philosophy Terms
Rhymes with HEURISTIC
artistic, autistic, ballistic, Buddhistic, cladistic, cubistic, deistic, ekistic, eristic, faunistic, floristic, holistic, hubristic, juristic, linguistic, logistic, meristic, monistic, patristic, phlogistic, puristic, simplistic, sophistic, statistic, stylistic, Taoistic, theistic, Thomistic, touristic, tropistic, truistic, veristic, Yahwistic
2heuristic
noun heu·ris·tic \hyu̇-ˈris-tik\
Definition of HEURISTIC
1
: the study or practice of heuristic (see 1heuristic) procedure
2
: heuristic (see 1heuristic) argument
3
: a heuristic (see 1heuristic) method or procedure
Examples of HEURISTIC
- “Cult” is best understood not as a descriptor, but as a command, like a law officer's “Halt!” Its purpose is to stop and contain. A more useful heuristic would be to identify precisely the most disturbing practices, beliefs, or incidents in the world of a “cult” … —Robert A. Orsi, Commonweal6 Oct. 2000
- Search engines … use heuristics to determine the way in which to order—and thereby prioritize—pages. —Soumen Chakrabarti et al., Scientific American, June 1999
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Origin of HEURISTIC
(see 1heuristic)
First Known Use: 1860
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