heuristic
pronunciation
How to pronounce heuristic in British English:
UK [hjuˈrɪstɪk]
How to pronounce heuristic in American English:
US [hjʊˈrɪstɪk]
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- Noun:
- a commonsense rule (or set of rules) intended to increase the probability of solving some problem
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- Adjective:
- of or relating to or using a general formulation that serves to guide investigation
Word Origin
- heuristic
- heuristic: see eureka
- heuristic (adj.)
- "serving to discover or find out," 1821, irregular formation from Greek heuretikos "inventive," related to heuriskein "to find" (from PIE *were- (2) "to find;" cognate with Old Irish fuar "I have found") + -istic. As a noun, from 1860.
Example
- 1. Searching for goodness would be a permanent conversation , and a heuristic process .
- 2. The calorie heuristic is the brain 's ancient link among food and money and fairness .
- 3. The university of washington 's team made that prediction by " heuristic reasoning " - aka educated guesswork .
- 4. But we 're not doomed to our initial prejudices : once a person becomes aware of her biases she is more able to engage rational thought processes to overcome the affect heuristic and dispel her inaccurate conclusions .
- 5. The affect heuristic explains how our minds take a difficult question ( one that would require rigorous logic to answer ) and substitutes it for an easier one .