† ˈtheorical, a. Obs.
[f. as theoric a.1 + -al1: see -ical.]
a. = theoric a.1 1. (Often opp. to practical.)
| 1571 Digges Pantom. Epist. *ij b, A Discourse Geometricall..containing sundry Theoricall and practicall propositions. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. viii. §5 (1622) 292 Wee must..ioyne theorical and practicall vertues together. 1651 Biggs New Disp. §230 Theoricall or practicall phlebotomy. 1730 Malcolm (title) A new system of Arithmetick Theorical and Practical. |
b. = theoretical 3.
| 1594 Plat Diuerse new Sorts Soyle 26, I thinke that those..did not obteine this skil by any true theoricall imagination, but..they did fynde the same without any seeking. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess., Disc. O. Cromwell (1669) 76, I see you are a Pedant, and Platonical Statesman, a Theorical Common-wealths-man, an Utopian Dreamer. 1730 Malcolm Syst. Arith. Pref. 6 The Theorical writers have treated Arithmetick as a Science. |
c. Contemplative, speculative. rare.
| 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 15. 281 Their cheife and eminent inward parts are defiled, whether we consider the theoricall part, that is, the minde and vnderstanding,..or the practicall facultie (included in the conscience). 1734 Waterland Doctrine Holy Trinity 513 That Three-fold Method of commenting which St. Jerome lays down; namely, the Historical, Tropological, and Theorical; or, in more familiar Terms, the literal, moral, and sublime. |