| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | questionable, unproven |
| Synonyms: | arguable, controversial, debatable, disputable, doubtful, dubious, dubitable, fishy, hard to believe, iffy, indefinite, open to doubt, open to question, suspect, suspicious, uncertain, unconfirmed, uncorroborated, unsupported |
| Main Entry: | baseless |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | without substantiation |
| Synonyms: | bottomless, flimsy, foundationless, gratuitous, groundless, reasonless, unconfirmed, uncorroborated, unfounded, ungrounded, unjustifiable, unjustified, unsubstantiated, unsupported, untenable, unwarranted |
| Antonyms: | based |
| Main Entry: | speculative |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | theoretical |
| Synonyms: | abstract, analytical, assumed, conceptive, dangerous, dicey, experimental, formularized, hairy, hazardous, hypothetical, ideal, idealized, ideological, iffy, in theory, intellectual, logical, notional, philosophical, presumed, risky, uncertain, unproved, unproven, unsubstantiated |
| Main Entry: | theoretical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hypothetical |
| Synonyms: | abstract, academic, analytical, as a premise, assumed, codified, conjectural, contingent, formalistic, formularized, general, ideal, idealized, ideational, ideological, imaginative, impractical, in the abstract, in theory, instanced, intellectual, logical, metaphysical, notional, on paper, pedantic, philosophical, postulated, presumed, problematical, pure, quixotic, speculative, suppositional, tentative, transcendent, transcendental, unearthly, unproved, unsubstantiated, vague |
| Notes: | empirical describes results determined by experiment and observed behavior or facts; theoretical describes results that are based on guesswork or hypothesis - and pragmatic is contrasted with theoretical on the grounds that the former proceeds from what is demonstrably practical, the latter from conjecture |
| Antonyms: | certain, definite, factual, proven, real |
| Main Entry: | unfounded |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | not based on fact |
| Synonyms: | baseless, bottomless, deceptive, fabricated, fallacious, false, foundationless, gratuitous, groundless, idle, illogical, mendacious, misleading, off-base, spurious, trumped up, uncalled-for, unjustified, unproven, unreal, unsubstantiated, untrue, untruthful, unwarranted, vain, without basis, without foundation |
| Antonyms: | founded, justified, proven, substantiated, supported |
| Main Entry: | theoretic |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | theoretical |
| Synonyms: | abstract, academic, analytical, as a premise, assumed, codified, conjectural, contingent, formalistic, formularized, general, hypothetic, hypothetical, ideal, idealized, ideational, ideological, imaginative, impractical, in the abstract, in theory, instanced, intellectual, logical, metaphysical, notional, on paper, pedantic, philosophical, postulated, presumed, problematical, pure, quixotic, speculative, suppositional, tentative, transcendent, transcendental, unearthly, unproved, unsubstantiated, vague |