-zə̇kəl, -zēk- adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin metaphysicalis, from metaphysica metaphysics + Latin -alis -al
1. : of, relating to, or based on metaphysics
metaphysical truth
the metaphysical assumption
idealism which still remained metaphysical although no longer explicitly theistic — Emil Brunner
2.
a. : of or relating to what is conceived as transcendent, supersensible, or transcendental
fleeing from experience to a metaphysical realm — John Dewey
b. : preternatural
fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crown'd — Shakespeare
c. archaic : imaginary , fanciful
those metaphysical persons … John Doe and Richard Roe — Sir Walter Scott
3.
a. : showing an inclination toward or addition to metaphysics
a metaphysical man
his metaphysical talent — Harriet B. Stowe
b. : highly abstract or abstruse
metaphysical reasoning
the prohibition of metaphysical questions — Social Research
4.
a. : synthetic a priori
a metaphysical judgment
b. : neither analytic nor subject to empirical verification
the view … that metaphysical statements are not, as scientific statements are, descriptions of real features of fact, but, at best, expressions of attitudes about which rational argument is impossible — W.H.Walsh
5. : of, relating to, or producing metaphysical poetry
metaphysical school
metaphysical poem
metaphysical poet