metaphysical

[met-uh-fiz-i-kuhl]

adjective

1. pertaining to or of the nature of metaphysics.

2. Philosophy.

   1. concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as existence, causality, or truth.

   2. concerned with first principles and ultimate grounds, as being, time, or substance.

3. highly abstract, subtle, or abstruse.

4. designating or pertaining to the poetry of an early group of 17th-century English poets, notably John Donne, whose characteristic style is highly intellectual and philosophical and features intensive use of ingenious conceits and turns of wit.

5. Archaic.,  imaginary or fanciful.

metaphysical

¹

/ ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪkəl /

adjective

1. relating to or concerned with metaphysics

2. (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

Metaphysical

²

/ ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪkəl /

adjective

1. 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

noun

1. a poet of this group

Other Word Forms

• metaphysically adverb
• antimetaphysical adjective
• antimetaphysically adverb
• hypermetaphysical adjective
• nonmetaphysical adjective
• nonmetaphysically adverb
• quasi-metaphysical adjective
• quasi-metaphysically adverb
• unmetaphysical adjective
• unmetaphysically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of metaphysical¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English metaphisicalle, from Medieval Latin metaphysicālis; equivalent to metaphysic + -al ¹

Example Sentences

She must navigate the idiocy of her high school peers while solving a metaphysical murder mystery.

From Los Angeles Times

To wit, the ideation behind the “Cosmic Selector” — a mysterious, maybe metaphysical jukebox where the punch of a button might bring about alternative life trajectories.

From Los Angeles Times

His attempts to improve the home his grandfather once envisioned as a thriving sheep farm have stalled, but he has managed to read more than 900 books during his stay, and to write 2,000-plus pages of a still-unfinished metaphysical volume ambitiously titled “The Atlas of Wisdom.”

From Los Angeles Times

“I was trying to establish a metaphysical dialogue through the words he had written and edited himself in the book,” Cruz Guerrero says.

From Los Angeles Times

Founded by famed philosopher and author Manly P. Hall in 1934 — and built with architect Robert Stacy-Judd in 1935 — PRS was first intended to be a resource center and place of study for all things metaphysical.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• abstract 
• abstruse 
• esoteric 
• mystical 
• philosophical 
• spiritual 
• supernatural 
• theoretical