Associations to the word «Theory»

THEORY, noun. (obsolete) Mental conception; reflection, consideration. [16th-18th c.]

THEORY, noun. (sciences) A coherent statement or set of ideas that explains observed facts or phenomena, or which sets out the laws and principles of something known or observed; a hypothesis confirmed by observation, experiment etc. [from 17th c.]

THEORY, noun. (uncountable) The underlying principles or methods of a given technical skill, art etc., as opposed to its practice. [from 17th c.]

THEORY, noun. (mathematics) A field of study attempting to exhaustively describe a particular class of constructs. [from 18th c.]

THEORY, noun. A hypothesis or conjecture. [from 18th c.]

THEORY, noun. (countable) (logic) A set of axioms together with all statements derivable from them. Equivalently, a formal language plus a set of axioms (from which can then be derived theorems).

THEORY OF EVERYTHING, noun. (physics) a theory, not yet in existence, that would unite all fundamental physical phenomena into a single framework

THEORY OF GAMES, noun. (mathematics) (economics) An older term for game theory.

THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE, noun. (philosophy) Epistemology.

THEORY OF MIND, noun. (psychology) The ability to form an opinion about what other people are thinking.

THEORY OF RELATIVITY, noun. (physics) The generic term for the theories of special relativity and general relativity, two theories in physics developed mainly by Albert Einstein at the beginning of the 20th century from which several important results such as the equivalence of matter and energy and the Einstein field equations are derived.

THEORY X, proper noun. The theory that employees are inherently lazy and irresponsible and will tend to avoid work unless closely supervised and given incentives.

THEORY Y, proper noun. The theory that employees are capable of being ambitious and self-motivated under suitable conditions.

THEORY, noun. A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory".

THEORY, noun. A tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena; "a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory"; "he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices".

THEORY, noun. A belief that can guide behavior; "the architect has a theory that more is less"; "they killed him on the theory that dead men tell no tales".