HEURISTIC

adj. & n. --adj. 1 allowing or assisting to discover. 2 Computing proceeding to a solution by trial and error. --n. 1 the science of heuristic procedure. 2 a heuristic process or method. 3 (in pl., usu. treated as sing.) Computing the study and use of heuristic techniques in data processing. øheuristic method a system of education under which pupils are trained to find out things for themselves. øøheuristically adv. [irreg. f. Gk heurisko find]