met·a·phys·i·cal

(mĕt′ə-fĭz′ĭ-kəl)

adj.

1. Of or relating to metaphysics.

2. Based on speculative or abstract reasoning.

3. Immaterial or supernatural: angels and other metaphysical beings.

4. often Metaphysical Of or relating to the poetry of a group of 17th-century English poets whose verse is characterized by an intellectually challenging style and extended metaphors comparing very dissimilar things.

[Middle English metaphisicalle, from Medieval Latin metaphysicālis, from metaphysica, metaphysics; see metaphysics.]

met′a·phys′i·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

metaphysical

(ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪkəl)

adj

1. (Philosophy) relating to or concerned with metaphysics

2. (Philosophy) (of a statement or theory) having the form of an empirical hypothesis, but in fact immune from empirical testing and therefore (in the view of the logical positivists) literally meaningless

3. (popularly) abstract, abstruse, or unduly theoretical

4. incorporeal; supernatural

ˌmetaˈphysically adv

Metaphysical

(ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪkəl)

adj

(Poetry) denoting or relating to certain 17th-century poets who combined intense feeling with ingenious thought and often used elaborate imagery and conceits. Notable among them were Donne, Herbert, and Marvell

(Poetry) a poet of this group

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

met•a•phys•i•cal

(ˌmɛt əˈfɪz ɪ kəl)

adj.

1. pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics.

2. highly abstract, subtle, or abstruse.

3. of or pertaining to a 17th-century group of English poets who used extensive imaginative conceits and turns of wit.

4. beyond the physical; incorporeal or supernatural.

[1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin]

met`a•phys′i•cal•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	metaphysical - pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics; "metaphysical philosophy"
	2.	metaphysical - without material form or substance; "metaphysical forces" supernatural - not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material; "supernatural forces and occurrences and beings"
	3.	metaphysical - highly abstract and overly theoretical; "metaphysical reasoning" theoretic, theoretical - concerned primarily with theories or hypotheses rather than practical considerations; "theoretical science"

metaphysical

adjective

1. abstract, intellectual, theoretical, deep, basic, essential, ideal, fundamental, universal, profound, philosophical, speculative, high-flown, esoteric, transcendental, abstruse, recondite, oversubtle metaphysical questions like personal responsibility for violence

2. supernatural, spiritual, unreal, intangible, immaterial, incorporeal, impalpable, unsubstantial He was moved by a metaphysical sense quite alien to him.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

metaphysical

adjective

1. Having no body, form, or substance:

bodiless, discarnate, disembodied, immaterial, incorporeal, insubstantial, nonphysical, spiritual, unbodied, uncorporal, unsubstantial.

2. Of, coming from, or relating to forces or beings that exist outside the natural world:

extramundane, extrasensory, miraculous, preternatural, superhuman, supernatural, superphysical, supersensible, transcendental, unearthly.

Translations

métaphysique

metafisico

metaphysical

[ˌmetəˈfɪzɪkəl] ADJ → metafísico

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

metaphysical

[ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪk^əl] adj [question] → métaphysique

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

metaphysical

adj, metaphysically

adv → metaphysisch

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

metaphysical

[ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪk/əl] adj → metafisico/a

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

And certainly there is much in the book, thus effectively presented to the English reader, to attract those who interest themselves in the study of the finer types of human nature, of literary expression, of metaphysical and practical philosophy; to attract, above all, those interested in such philosophy, at points where it touches upon questions of religion, and especially at the present day.

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By-and-by, when you've got a name, you can afford to digress, and have philosophical and metaphysical people in your novels," said Amy, who took a strictly practical view of the subject.

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"It seems to me that all things of the mind are metaphysical. That most exact and convincing of all sciences, mathematics, is sheerly metaphysical.

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No general error evinces a more thorough confusion of ideas than the error of supposing Donne and Cowley metaphysical in the sense wherein Wordsworth and Coleridge are so.

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Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor.

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I am in doubt as to the propriety of making my first meditations in the place above mentioned matter of discourse; for these are so metaphysical, and so uncommon, as not, perhaps, to be acceptable to every one.

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He had a practical mind and moved uneasily amid the abstract; but he found an unexpected fascination in listening to metaphysical disquisitions; they made him breathless; it was a little like watching a tight-rope dancer doing perilous feats over an abyss; but it was very exciting.

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(This last resource was one he very frequently employed.) He would transfer a question to metaphysical heights, pass on to definitions of space, time, and thought, and, having deduced the refutation he needed, would again descend to the level of the original discussion.

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The 'Metaphysical' religious poets--Herbert, Crashaw, and Vaughan.

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He was the greatest metaphysical genius whom the world has seen; and in him, more than in any other ancient thinker, the germs of future knowledge are contained.

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This view of the reciprocal causal independence of mind and matter has no basis except in metaphysical theory.* For us, there is no necessity to make any such assumption, which is very difficult to harmonize with obvious facts.

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Personally, he was an intellectual moralist, and more offending to him than platitudinous pomposity was the morality of those about him, which was a curious hotchpotch of the economic, the metaphysical, the sentimental, and the imitative.

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