English edit

Etymology edit

ontology +‎ -ical

Adjective edit

ontological (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to ontology.
    • 1948, W.v.O. Quine, On What There Is:
      A curious thing about the ontological problem is its simplicity. It can be put in three Anglo-Saxon monosyllables: ‘What is there?’ It can be answered, moreover, in a word—‘Everything’—and everyone will accept this answer as true.
  2. Of or pertaining to the nature of being or existence.
    • 1902, William James, “Lecture 3”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience [] [1], London: Longmans, Green & Co.:
      Such is the human ontological imagination, and such is the convincingness of what it brings to birth. Unpicturable beings are realized, and realized with an intensity almost like that of an hallucination.

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

Anagrams edit