noun (plural theories)
1 [C,U] a formal set of ideas that is intended to explain why sth happens or exists:
According to the theory of relativity, nothing can travel faster than light. * The debate is centred around two conflicting theories.
2 [U] the principles on which a particular subject is based:
the theory and practice of language teaching * literary / political theory
3 [C] ~ (that) an opinion or idea that sb believes is true but that is not proved:
I have this theory that most people prefer being at work to being at home.
IDIOMS
in theory used to say that a particular statement is supposed to be true but may in fact be wrong:
In theory, these machines should last for ten years or more. * That sounds fine in theory, but have you really thought it through? * 'Aren't you supposed to be retired?' 'Yes, in theory.'
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for theory is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Does theory appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — theory appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
