empiricism

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"empiricism" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“empiricism” is uncommon English (frequency #54,153 among 2,246 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,153
frequency rank, English
2,246
“E” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A doctrine which holds that the only or, at least, the most reliable source of human knowledge is experience, especially perception by means of the physical senses. (Often contrasted with rationali...

Corpus desk

Index EN-empiricism · empiricism · English

empiricism · rank #54,153 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #54,153
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,246
  • PHOTO-FINISH Emirati

Nearest frequency peer: Emirati (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “empiricism”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “empiricism” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for empiricism
PropertyValue
Headwordempiricism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#54,153
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “empiricism” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).empiricismfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Emirati” (#54,152), “enamoured” (#54,155), “electrolytic” (#54,150). Among 2,246 “E” headwords, “empiricism” is #54,153. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

empiricism is uncommon English at frequency #54,153 among 2,246 “E” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for empiricism in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From empiric + -ism. The correct English form is empiricism, spelled E-M-P-I-R-I-C-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    A doctrine which holds that the only or, at least, the most reliable source of human knowledge is experience, especially perception by means of the physical senses. (Often contrasted with rationalism.)
  2. 2
    A pursuit of knowledge purely through experience, especially by means of observation and sometimes by experimentation.
  3. 3
    Research methodology shaped from empirical philosophy (see above), e.g. surveys, statistics, etc.
  4. 4
    Medicine as practised by an empiric, founded on mere (personal or anecdotal) experience, without the aid of science or a knowledge of principles.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how empiricism appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Empiricism teaches us that we are unceasingly and intimately in contact with a full, living, breathing Reality, that experience is a constant communion with the real.
  2. He agrees with Kant that Hume's empiricism is refuted de facto by the example of mathematics, whose judgments are synthetic a priori.

Etymology

From empiric + -ism.

This word in other languages

empirismo(Español)empirisme(Français)Empirismus(Deutsch)empirismo(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "empiricism"?
"empiricism" is spelled E-M-P-I-R-I-C-I-S-M.
What does "empiricism" mean?
As a noun, "empiricism" means: A doctrine which holds that the only or, at least, the most reliable source of human knowledge is experience, especially perception by means of the physical senses. (Often contrasted with rationali...
What is the origin of the word "empiricism"?
From empiric + -ism. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "empiricism", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

egocentric#54,149feathering#54,174distrusted#54,125directness#54,121

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list