Theory vs Literal - What's the difference?
theory | literal |
(obsolete) Mental conception; reflection, consideration.
* 1646 , (Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica , VII.19:
(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.
* 2002 , Duncan Steel, The Guardian , 23 May 2002:
* 2003 , (Bill Bryson), A Short History of Nearly Everything , BCA, p. 118:
* 2009 , (Richard Dawkins), The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence for Evolution , Bantam, p. 10:
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Michael Riordan
, title=Tackling Infinity
, volume=100, issue=1, page=86
, magazine=
(uncountable) The underlying principles or methods of a given technical skill, art etc., as opposed to its practice.
* 1990 , Tony Bennett, Outside Literature , p. 139:
* 1998 , Elizabeth Souritz, The Great History of Russian Ballet :
(mathematics) A field of study attempting to exhaustively describe a particular class of constructs.
A hypothesis or conjecture.
* 1999 , Wes DeMott, Vapors :
* 2003 , Sean Coughlan, The Guardian , 21 Jun 2003:
(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).
Exactly as stated; read or understood without additional interpretation; according to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical.
* Hooker
Following the letter or exact words; not free; not taking liberties.
(uncommon) Consisting of, or expressed by, letters.
* Johnson
(of a person) Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative; matter-of-fact.
(programming) A value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.
(logic) A propositional variable or the negation of a propositional variable.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolution_%28logic%29]
As nouns the difference between theory and literal
is that theory is mental conception; reflection, consideration while literal is a value, as opposed to an identifier, written into the source code of a computer program.As an adjective literal is
exactly as stated; read or understood without additional interpretation; according to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical.theory
English
Noun
- As they encrease the hatred of vice in some, so doe they enlarge the theory of wickednesse in all.
- It was only when Einstein's theory' of relativity was published in 1915 that physicists could show that Mercury's "anomaly" was actually because Newton's gravitational ' theory was incomplete.
- The world would need additional decades [...] before the Big Bang would begin to move from interesting idea to established theory .
- Scientists and creationists are understanding the word "theory'" in two very different senses. Evolution is a '''theory''' in the same sense as the heliocentric '''theory'''. In neither case should the word "only" be used, as in "only a ' theory ".
citation, passage=Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories', including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the ' theories .}}
- Does this mean, then, that there can be no such thing as a theory of literature?
- Lopukhov wrote a number of books and articles on ballet theory , as well as his memoirs.
- Knot theory classifies the mappings of a circle into 3-space.
- It's just a theory I have, and I wonder if women would agree. But don't men say a lot about themselves when a short-skirted woman slides out of a car or chair?
- The theory is that by stripping costs to the bone, they are able to offer ludicrously low fares.
- A theory is consistent if it has a model.
Usage notes
In scientific discourse, the sense “unproven conjecture” is discouraged (with hypothesis or conjecture preferred), due to unintentional ambiguity and intentional equivocation with the sense “well-developed statement or structure”.Synonyms
* See alsoHolonyms
* (in logic) formal systemMeronyms
* (in logic) axiomsDerived 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 * opponent-process 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 * Theory X * Theory Y * type theory * value theory * virtue theorySee also
* axiom * postulate * proposition Check translationsliteral
Alternative forms
* litteral (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- The literal translation is “hands full of bananas” but it means empty-handed.
- a middle course between the rigour of literal translation and the liberty of paraphrasts
- A literal reading of the law would prohibit it, but that is clearly not the intent.
- a literal equation
- The literal notation of numbers was known to Europeans before the ciphers.