metaphysical
metaphysical Lexical Profile
metaphysical Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Relating to metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that investigates the fundamental nature of reality, existence, time, and causation.
"The professor led a seminar examining the metaphysical arguments concerning free will and determinism."
Transcending physical matter or the laws of nature; immaterial, spiritual, or supernatural.
"Many ancient traditions view the soul as a metaphysical entity that exists independently of the mortal body."
Highly abstract, theoretical, or abstruse, and therefore difficult to comprehend.
"Critics complained that the committee's policy proposal was too metaphysical to address immediate economic problems."
Relating to or characteristic of a group of seventeenth-century English poets, notably John Donne and George Herbert, whose verse is marked by intellectual complexity and elaborate figurative conceits.
"In her thesis on seventeenth-century literature, she analyzed the intricate conceits typical of metaphysical poetry."
• Rhymes for metaphysical
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Medieval Latin 'metaphysicalis', ultimately from Greek 'ta meta ta physika' ('the things after the Physics'), the title assigned to Aristotle's treatise on first principles because it followed his work on natural science.