English

Etymology

English since 1613, from French théorie < Latin theoria < Greek ("contemplation, speculation, a looking at, things looked at") < (to look at, view, consider, examine) < (spectator) < (a view) + (to see, to look).

Pronunciation

• An audio transcript can be found at en-us-theory.ogg
• : Rhymes: Rhymes:English:-ɪəri|-ɪəri

Noun

{{en-noun|theor|ies|-}}

1. An unproven conjecture.
2. : I have a theory about who broke into the school last night, but I have no proof to back it up.
3. An expectation of what should happen, barring unforeseen circumstances.
4. : So we’ll be there in three hours? — That’s the theory.
5. A coherent statement or set of statements that attempts to explain observed phenomenon|phenomena.
6. : There is now a well-developed theory of electrical charge.
7. A logical structure that enables one to deduce the possible results of every experiment that falls within its purview.
8. : The theory of relativity was proposed by Einstein.
9. A field of study attempting to exhaustively describe a particular class of constructs.
10. : Knot theory classifies the mappings of a circle into 3-space.
11. A set of axioms together with all statements derivable from them.
12. : A theory is consistent if it has a model.

Derived terms

• acoustic theory
• algorithmic information theory
• antenna theory
• atomic theory
• catastrophe theory
• category theory
• cell theory
• chaos theory
• circuit theory
• complexity theory
• computation theory
• control theory
• critical theory
• decision theory

• domino theory
• extreme value theory
• game theory
• giant impact theory
• graph theory
• group theory
• in theory
• information theory
• kinetic theory of gases
• knot theory
• literary theory
• music theory
• number theory
• phlogiston theory

• probability theory
• proof theory
• quantum field theory
• rational choice theory
• set theory
• signal theory
• social theory
• systems theory
• theory of gravity
• theory of relativity
• theory of truth
• type theory
• value theory
• virtue theory

Related terms

• theorem
• theoretical
• theorise, theorize

Translations

• Arabic:
• Croatian: {{t-|hr|teorija|f}}
• Dutch:
• Finnish:
• French: {{t+|fr|théorie|f}}
• German: {{t+|de|Theorie|f}}
• Greek: {{t+|el|θεωρία|f|sc=Grek}}
• Italian: {{t+|it|teoria|f}}

• Japanese: {{t|ja|憶測|tr=okusoku|sc=Jpan}}, {{t|ja|推測|tr=suisoku|sc=Jpan}}, {{t|ja|推論|tr=suiron|sc=Jpan}}, {{t|ja|見解|tr=kenkai|sc=Jpan}}
• Maltese: {{t-|mt|teorija|xs=Maltese}}
• Norwegian: {{t-|no|teori|m}}
• Portuguese: {{t+|pt|teoria|f}}
• Russian: {{t+|ru|теория|f|tr=t'eórija|sc=Cyrl}}, {{t|ru|гипотеза|f|tr=gipót'eza|sc=Cyrl}}
• Spanish: {{t-|es|teoría|f}}
• Swedish: {{t+|sv|teori|c}}

• Arabic:
• Croatian: {{t-|hr|teorija|f}}
• Dutch:
• Finnish:
• German: {{t+|de|Theorie|f}}
• Japanese: {{t-|ja|理論|tr=riron|sc=Jpan}}, {{t|ja|推論|tr=suiron|sc=Jpan}}

• Norwegian: {{t-|no|idé|m}}, {{t-|no|teori|m}}
• Portuguese: {{t+|pt|teoria|f}}
• Russian: {{t+|ru|теория|f|tr=t'eórija|sc=Cyrl}}
• Spanish: {{t-|es|teoría|f}}
• Swedish: {{t+|sv|idé|c}}, {{t+|sv|teori|c}}

• Arabic:
• Croatian: {{t-|hr|teorija|f}}
• Czech: {{t+|cs|teorie|f}}
• Dutch:
• Finnish:
• French: {{t+|fr|théorie|f}}
• German: {{t+|de|Theorie|f}}
• Greek: {{t+|el|θεωρία|f|sc=Grek}}

• Japanese: {{t-|ja|理論|tr=riron|sc=Jpan}}, {{t|ja|学説|tr=gakusetsu|sc=Jpan}}
• Maltese: {{t-|mt|teorija|xs=Maltese}}
• Norwegian: {{t-|no|teori|m}}
• Portuguese: {{t+|pt|teoria|f}}
• Russian: {{t+|ru|теория|f|tr=t'eórija|sc=Cyrl}}
• Spanish: {{t-|es|teoría|f}}
• Swedish: {{t+|sv|teori|c}}

• Croatian: {{t-|hr|teorija|f}}
• Dutch:
• Greek: {{t+|el|θεωρία|f|sc=Grek}}
• Japanese: {{t-|ja|定理|tr=teiri|sc=Jpan}}, {{t-|ja|理論|tr=riron|sc=Jpan}}, {{t|ja|学説|tr=gakusetsu|sc=Jpan}}
• Norwegian: {{t-|no|teori|m}}

• Portuguese: {{t+|pt|teoria|f}}
• Russian: {{t+|ru|теория|f|tr=t'eórija|sc=Cyrl}}
• Spanish: {{t-|es|teoría|f}}
• Swedish: {{t+|sv|teori|c}}

• Croatian: {{t-|hr|teorija|f}}
• Dutch:
• Finnish:
• French: {{t+|fr|théorie|f}}
• German: {{t+|de|Theorie|f}}
• Italian: {{t+|it|teoria|f}}
• Japanese: {{t-|ja|定理|tr=teiri|sc=Jpan}}, {{t-|ja|理論|tr=riron|sc=Jpan}}, {{t|ja|学説|tr=gakusetsu|sc=Jpan}}

• Maltese: {{t-|mt|teorija|xs=Maltese}}
• Norwegian: {{t-|no|teori|m}}
• Portuguese: {{t+|pt|teoria|f}}
• Russian: {{t+|ru|теория|f|tr=t'eórija|sc=Cyrl}}
• Spanish: {{t-|es|teoría|f}}
• Swedish: {{t+|sv|teori|c}}

• Croatian: {{t-|hr|teorija|f}}
• Dutch:
• Finnish:
• German: {{t+|de|Theorie|f}}
• Japanese: {{t-|ja|定理|tr=teiri|sc=Jpan}}

• Norwegian: {{t-|no|teori|m}}
• Portuguese: {{t+|pt|teoria|f}}
• Russian: {{t+|ru|теория|f|tr=t'eórija|sc=Cyrl}}
• Spanish: {{t-|es|teoría|f}}
• Swedish: {{t+|sv|teori|c}}

• :
• : 理论/理論 (lǐlùn); 论/論 (lùn); 学说/學説 (xuéshuō); 道理 (dàolǐ)
• : teori
• : teoria

• : 이론 (iron)
• : teori
• : lý thuyết

See also

• axiom
• postulate
• proposition

Category:1000 English basic words Category:Check translations Category:Greek derivations

ar:theory de:theory el:theory fa:theory fr:theory ko:theory hy:theory io:theory id:theory it:theory kk:theory ku:theory hu:theory ja:theory pl:theory pt:theory ru:theory simple:theory fi:theory sv:theory ta:theory te:theory vi:theory tr:theory zh:theory