apodictic

• apodeictic

From the Latin apodīcticus (“proving clearly”, “demonstrative”), from the Ancient Greek ἀποδεικτικός (apodeiktikós, “affording proof”, “demonstrative”), from ἀποδείκνυμι (apodeíknumi, “I demonstrate”). In turn, from ἀπο- (apo-, “separate, without”), and δεικτικός (deiktikós, “capable of proof”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /apəʊˈdɪktɪk/, /apəʊˈdaɪktɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /æpəˈdɪktɪk/, /apoʊˈdɪktɪk/

apodictic (comparative more apodictic, superlative most apodictic)

1. Incontrovertible; demonstrably true or certain.
   • 1902, William James, “Lectures XIV and XV: The Value of Saintliness”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 331–332:

     No religion has ever yet owed its prevalence to ‘apodictic certainty’.

   • 1992, Alexander Jablokov, A Deeper Sea, Avon Books, page 250:

     The orca spoke in the odd grammatical tense used either to describe dreams, or to make statements so true they were apodictic, such as "All things die" or "Before my conception I did not exist."

2. Being a style of argument in which a person presents their reasoning as categorically true, even if it is not necessarily so.

   Don’t be so apodictic! You haven’t considered several facets of the question.

3. (Biblical studies, theology) Absolute and without explanation, as in a command from God like "Thou shalt not kill!"

• problematic
• assertorical

Borrowed from French apodictique, from Latin apodicticus.

apodictic m or n (feminine singular apodictică, masculine plural apodictici, feminine and neuter plural apodictice)

1. apodictic