Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who formulates, studies, or is expert in the theory of a science or an art.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A theorist; a theorizer; one who is expert in the theory of a science or art.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun someone who is expert in the theory of a particular science or art
  • noun a theorist

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who theorizes (especially in science or art)

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The work of a theoretician is related in a direct way to his whole life.

    Ilya Prigogine - Autobiography 1977

  • I'm also convinced that when we refer to a "theoretician", we typically do not mean someone like Tom Cavalier-Smith whose scientific output consists of bold conjectures or systematic hypotheses (we might call such people "theorizers"), but instead someone like Joe Felsenstein whose work focuses on mathematical or algorithmic foundations, i.e., theory2.

    Sandwalk Larry Moran 2010

  • I'm also convinced that when we refer to a "theoretician", we typically do not mean someone like Tom Cavalier-Smith whose scientific output consists of bold conjectures or systematic hypotheses (we might call such people "theorizers"), but instead someone like Joe Felsenstein whose work focuses on mathematical or algorithmic foundations, i.e., theory2.

    Sandwalk Larry Moran 2010

  • Geiger would become a second mentor to Bothe - the experimental twin of the great theoretician, Planck.

    Walther Bothe and the Physics Institute: the Early Years of Nuclear Physics 2010

  • The well-known opening theoretician, works with a little trick, avoiding the strict Ragozin variation 6.

    Lubomir Kavalek: When Bobby Fischer Played Chess Like Misha Tal Lubomir Kavalek 2011

  • The connection isn't made explicit, but the time of Carlos, the international mercenary, is over, and that of Bin Laden, the theoretician, is just beginning.

    Carlos director Olivier Assayas on the terrorist who became a pop culture icon Steve Rose 2010

  • German legal theoretician and political scientist Carl Schmitt helped form an ideological foundation for the Nazi dictatorship and justified its authoritarian state by using legal philosophy.

    Overlooked Movie Monday: Starship Troopers » Scene-Stealers 2010

  • Walther Bothe was both a strong theoretician and one of the most accomplished experimental physicists of the first half of the 20th century.

    Walther Bothe and the Physics Institute: the Early Years of Nuclear Physics 2010

  • With over 150 concert dates and five or six record releases a year, Mr. Savall actively combines a solo career as a viol player with that of conductor and early music theoretician.

    Blurring Traditional Boundaries J. S. Marcus 2010

  • Prickly, with a thick northern drawl, tobacco-stained teeth and an infectious laugh, he has always been considered part of the "loyal opposition," less a theoretician of a democratic revolution than a tough urban gadfly.

    China's Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize John Pomfret 2010

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