adj · academic
empirical
/ɪmˈpɪrɪkəl/im·PIR·i·cal
Band 5-6task2speaking
based on observation or real data rather than theory
Examples
“We need empirical evidence to support the claim in the essay.”
“Her conclusions come from empirical research conducted over five years.”
“In Task 2, use empirical examples when you discuss social trends.”
Band 8 sentence
“The paper draws on empirical data from multiple countries to challenge existing theoretical models.”
Collocations
- empirical evidence
- empirical study/research
- empirical data
Word family
empirically advempiricism n
Common mistakes
experimental→empirical
practical→empirical
Say it for a higher band
5practical→6observational→7+empirical
Synonyms
observational
Easily confused
experimental
“The experimental design involved control and treatment groups to test the hypothesis.”
Related words
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In Sublist 8
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