heuristic
1heu·ris·tic
adj \hyu̇-ˈris-tik\Definition of HEURISTIC
: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods <heuristic techniques> <a heuristic assumption>; also : of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance <a heuristic computer program>
— heu·ris·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb
See Examples of HEURISTIC
- If Orbitz prevails, its online reservation process alone may blow away the competition. Unlike mainframe-based systems … , Orbitz uses racks of PCs to search fare data, making it easier to scale up computing power. And its intelligent … algorithms evaluate all the possible fares simultaneously instead of employing heuristic shortcuts designed to use as little computing power as possible. —Evan Ratliff, WIRED, September 2000
- Because “tradition” has served as a powerful heuristic term, we are always in danger of reifying it … —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Reading Black, Reading Feminist, 1990
- Its heuristic principle would be St. Augustine's axiom that the Old Testament is revealed in the New and the New concealed in the Old … —V. B. Leitch, American Literary Criticism from the Thirties to the Eighties, 1988
- [+]more
Origin of HEURISTIC
German heuristisch, from New Latin heuristicus, from Greek heuriskein to discover; akin to Old Irish fo-fúair he found
First Known Use: 1821
Other Philosophy Terms
Rhymes with HEURISTIC
artistic, autistic, ballistic, Buddhistic, cladistic, cubistic, deistic, ekistic, eristic, faunistic, floristic, holistic, hubristic, juristic, linguistic, logistic, meristic, monistic, patristic, phlogistic, puristic, simplistic, sophistic, statistic, stylistic, Taoistic, theistic, Thomistic, touristic, tropistic, truistic, veristic, Yahwistic
Browse
Next Word in the Dictionary: heurt
Previous Word in the Dictionary: heulandite
All Words Near: heuristic
Previous Word in the Dictionary: heulandite
All Words Near: heuristic
Seen & Heard 
What made you want to look up heuristic? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
