heuristic

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: heu=ris=tic

CIDE DICTIONARY

heuristic, a. [Gr. e"yri`skein to discover.].

•  Serving to promote discovery or learning; -- used especially of thories or paradigms which stimulate new ideas for discovering facts in experimental sciences.  [1913 Webster]
•  Serving to stimulate people to learn and discover on their own, especially by encouraging experimental and trial-and-error methods for solving problems.  [PJC]
•  Pertaining to or based on trial-and-error and experimental methods of learning and evaluation.  [PJC]
•  Based on the use of an efficient trial-and error method to search a space of possible solutions to a problem, or to find an acceptable approximate solution, when an exact algorithmic method is unavailable or too time-consuming.  [PJC]

heuristic, n. 

•  A heuristic method; a specific heuristic procedure.  [PJC]
•  A theory or approach which serves to promote discovery or learning by encouraging experimentation.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

heuristic, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 allowing or assisting to discover.
2 Computing proceeding to a solution by trial and error.
--n.
1 the science of heuristic procedure.
2 a heuristic process or method.
3 (in pl., usu. treated as sing.) Computing the study and use of heuristic techniques in data processing.

Idiom

heuristic method a system of education under which pupils are trained to find out things for themselves.

Derivative

heuristically adv.

Etymology

irreg. f. Gk heurisko find

THESAURUS

heuristic

analytic, cut-and-try, empirical, examinational, examinatorial, examining, experimental, explorational, explorative, exploratory, fact-finding, feeling, groping, hit-or-miss, indagative, inspectional, inspectorial, investigational, investigative, investigatory, pilot, probationary, probative, probatory, proving, provisional, tentative, test, testing, trial, trial-and-error, trying, verificatory, zetetic