Library / English Dictionary

THEORIZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form or construct theories

Example:

he thinks and theorizes all day

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "theorize" is one way to...):

reason (think logically)

Verb group:

theorize (construct a theory about)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

theorization (the production or use of theories)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Construct a theory about

Example:

Galileo theorized the motion of the stars

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "theorize" is one way to...):

reason (think logically)

Verb group:

theorize (form or construct theories)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

theorization (the production or use of theories)

Sense 3

Meaning:

To believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds

Example:

Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps

Synonyms:

conjecture; hypothecate; hypothesise; hypothesize; speculate; suppose; theorise; theorize

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "theorize" is one way to...):

anticipate; expect (regard something as probable or likely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "theorize"):

construct; reconstruct; retrace (reassemble mentally)

develop; explicate; formulate (elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They theorize that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

theorizer (someone who theorizes (especially in science or art))

theory (a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena)

theory (a belief that can guide behavior)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Because the association neocortex is thought to be a storage location for memories, the researchers theorized that this neural dialogue could help the brain retain information.

(Study shows how memories ripple through the brain, National Institutes of Health)

The researchers theorize that the ancestors of all enterococci lived in the guts of prehistoric aquatic animals, and as their hosts left the sea around 425 million years ago, the bacteria were carried along.

(Enterococci may have evolved antimicrobial resistance millions of years ago, NIH)

An accretion disk is a spiraling mass of material centered around a monumental source of gravity consuming interstellar material–what researchers have theorized is a black hole.

(Astronomers Study How Quasars Are Powered by Accretion Disks, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Since scientists first determined that atmospheric carbon dioxide was lower during ice ages than during warm phases, they have looked at why, theorizing that it may be a function of ocean circulation, sea ice, iron-laden dust or temperature.

(Why atmospheric carbon dioxide was lower during ice ages, National Science Foundation)

For flowing water to have existed on the surface, Mars must have had a thicker atmosphere and warmer climate than has been theorized for the ancient era when Gale Crater experienced the intense geological activity.

(NASA's Curiosity Rover Team Confirms Ancient Lakes on Mars, NASA)

Astronomers in Japan found the possible black hole in our own Milky Way galaxy, a long-theorized object which is bigger than the small black holes formed from a single star, but still much smaller than giant black holes such as the one at the center of the Milky Way.

(Astronomers Find New Evidence for Long-theorized Mid-sized Black Holes, VOA News)

Several recent news stories have reported that a mysterious anomaly in Cassini's orbit could potentially be explained by the gravitational tug of a theorized massive new planet in our solar system, lurking far beyond the orbit of Neptune.

(Saturn Spacecraft Not Affected by Hypothetical Planet 9, NASA)

The scientist theorized correctly that he could adapt it to separate carbon nanotubes, rolled sheets of graphene (a single atomic layer of hexagonally bonded carbon atoms), long recognized for their potential applications in computers and tablets, smart phones and other portable devices, photovoltaics, batteries and bioimaging.

(Materials for the next generation of electronics and photovoltaics, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The team, which included researchers in the laboratories of Drs. Mingming Hao, Noah Dephoure and Dr. Lukas Dow at Weill Cornell Medicine, knew that adipsin had a role in stimulating beta cells to secrete insulin and theorized that the protein might be a potential therapy for type 2 diabetes.

(New Potential Approach Found to Type 2 Diabetes Treatment, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Though brown dwarfs were theorized in the 1960s and confirmed in 1995, there is not an accepted explanation of how they form: like a star, by the contraction of gas, or like a planet, by the accretion of material in a protoplanetary disk?

(NASA’s Webb Telescope to Investigate Mysterious Brown Dwarfs, NASA)