Categorical means stated absolutely, leaving no room for doubt. A categorical denial.
It is nearly always used of denials and assurances, where the absoluteness is the point. A categorical statement is easy to disprove, which is why careful people avoid making one.
1adjectivecategoricalStated absolutely, leaving no room for doubt.
“The denial was categorical and lasted about a fortnight.”
categorical is a quality.
Greek kategorikos comes from kategoria, an accusation or statement, from kata plus agora, an assembly.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂ger-
French
catégorie
English
category
English, today
categorical
From catēgoricus + al. by surface analysis, category + -ical. category comes from Middle English -, from French catégorie. Late Middle English -, borrowed from French catégorie, from Middle French categorie, from Latin catēgoria (“class of predicables”), from Ancient Greek κατηγορία (“head of predicables”). a doublet of categoria.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA