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theoretically

adverbB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,623 of 15,258neutral

Theoretically means in principle, whatever happens in practice. Theoretically possible, theoretically we could, theoretically sound.

It is nearly always followed by a but, spoken or implied, and theoretically possible usually means it will not happen. Used honestly it marks a claim about principle rather than about the world, which is a real and useful distinction.

Definitions of theoretically

  1. 1adverbtheoreticallyIn principle, whatever happens in practice.B2

    “Theoretically, anyone can apply for the job, but in practice it usually goes to an insider.”

theoretically is a hedge.

Where it comes from

  1. Latin

    theōrēticus

  2. Middle English

    theorothycall

  3. English

    theoretical

  4. English, today

    theoretically

From theoretical + -ly. theoretical comes from Middle English theorothycall, probably from Latin theōrēticus + -al, from Ancient Greek θεωρητικός.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

theoretically in the wild

  • One of the measures of the strength of an encryption system is how long it would theoretically take an attacker to mount a successful brute-force attack against it.

    Brute-force attack

  • A structural analog can be imagined to be formed, at least theoretically, from the other compound.

    Structural analog

  • The British sovereign cannot receive university degrees, since they would theoretically place them under the jurisdiction of the Chancellor of the university.

    Doctor of Civil Law

  • However, for example Spain (almost entirely in the Western hemisphere) and France should theoretically use UTC, as they did before the Second World War.

    Time in Europe

  • The general result is a solar noon which is much later than clock noon, and later sunrises and sunsets than should theoretically happen.

    Time in Europe

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the theōrēticus family

theoreticallytheoretical

theoretically — used about once every 1,489 pages · #5,623 · point at the bar for the others