I. |āprē|ōrē, |ä-, |a-, |ȧ-, -ȯr-, -ri; |āˌprī|ōrˌī, -ȯˌrī, -ōrē, -ȯrē, -ri adverb
Etymology: Latin, literally, from the former
1. : by reasoning from definitions formed or principles assumed : deductively
2. : without examination or analysis : presumptively
3. : independently or experience : intuitively
II. adjective
1.
a. : marked by reasoning or by deducing consequences from definitions formed or principles assumed : deductive
an a priori argument
an a priori order of propositions
b.
(1) : of or relating to something that can be known by reason alone
a priori geometrical propositions
(2) : of or relating to reasoning from mere examination of ideas alone : marked by being knowable by reasoning from what is considered self-evident and therefore without appeal to the particular facts of experience
c. : of or relating to something that is presupposed by experience in general : considered as antecedently necessary in order that experience in general should be intelligible — used in Kantianism
d. : true or false by definition or convention alone : analytic
a priori statements
e. : arbitrarily or conventionally postulated for formalization or axiomatization — contrasted with a posteriori
2. : without examination or analysis : presumptive
a priori acceptance of the greatness of a book — Norman Cousins
III. noun
( plural a prioris )
: something that is a priori ; especially : an a priori conception or proposition
the a priori coextensive with the formal — W.S.Sellars