as in theoretical
dealing with or expressing a quality or idea
ideograms are ideational—they are meant to suggest some general idea and not a particular word or phrase
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Recent Examples of ideational
These ideational shifts, influenced by both global narratives and local aspirations, are increasingly shaping how Indians approach relationships.
—
Anuradha Gupta, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025
The ideational content of the image — a man killing another man on a public sidewalk — is only half the message.
—F.k. Plous, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 2025
This process, which Doten-Snitker and her coauthors term ideational diffusion, often took many years as people in towns and cities needed time to digest new ideas about witchcraft and turn them into behavior.
—Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2024
The United States, of course, cannot share everything—physical or ideational—with its partners.
—Thomas G. Mahnken, Foreign Affairs, 5 June 2024
Steven Spielberg extends Griffith’s and Ford’s historical insight through an astonishing mix of visual and ideational dialectics.
—Armond White, National Review, 28 June 2023
Einstein’s theories as ideational relativism.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 3 May 2021
Anuradha Gupta, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025
The ideational content of the image — a man killing another man on a public sidewalk — is only half the message.
—F.k. Plous, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 2025
This process, which Doten-Snitker and her coauthors term ideational diffusion, often took many years as people in towns and cities needed time to digest new ideas about witchcraft and turn them into behavior.
—Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2024
The United States, of course, cannot share everything—physical or ideational—with its partners.
—Thomas G. Mahnken, Foreign Affairs, 5 June 2024
Steven Spielberg extends Griffith’s and Ford’s historical insight through an astonishing mix of visual and ideational dialectics.
—Armond White, National Review, 28 June 2023
Einstein’s theories as ideational relativism.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 3 May 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ideational
Adjective
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Our own investments in AI over the last decade have transitioned from theoretical exploration to practical implementation, delivering tangible results for businesses.—
Derya Matras,
Fortune,
4 Oct. 2025
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To overcome that, some investors are choosing to back companies that use AI to solve immediate and costly business problems for established large clients, rather than chase a theoretical potential.—
Ganesh Rao,Julianna Tatelbaum,
CNBC,
3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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But in an Akan language, the notion that an object could exist as a bare substrate, stripped of properties—say, the idea of a stone, with its weight, texture, and color subtracted—is basically unintelligible; the metaphysical split between a thing and its properties isn’t naturally expressible.—
Lula Konner,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Oct. 2025
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Best Gifts for Pisces Dreamy Pisces are creative and spiritual, so a journal, art set, or metaphysical kit with all of the essentials for a seance is a great gift idea.—
Jessie Quinn,
StyleCaster,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Huang Yong Ping, the founder of the movement, along with major conceptual artists such as Geng Jianyi, Yin Xiuzhen and Shi Yong, all fell under the spell of Fluxus and carved out a unique position for the cohort within the international avant-garde.—
Denni Hu,
Footwear News,
10 Oct. 2025
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Mothersbaugh, a conceptual artist and composer, co-founded the rock group DEVO and has scored 150 films, television shows, video games and hundreds of commercials through his multimedia company, Mutato Muzika.—
Kimberly Nordyke,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Curved lines and block colors in shades of orange, yellow and blue create the image of an artist, framed by a border of abstract shapes.—
Suyin Haynes,
CNN Money,
8 Oct. 2025
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Her words are a reminder that the stakes are not abstract.—
Loree Sutton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The belief is that working on his mental approach with new goalie coach Peter Aubry, combined with a couple of technical adjustments, will help Skinner become more consistent and at his best — which is very good — more often.—
Daniel Nugent-Bowman,
New York Times,
8 Oct. 2025
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What’s at stake here is whether states should endorse practices that every major medical and mental-health association has already disavowed as dangerous and ineffective.—
Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez,
Time,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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For menswear, the brand cited photographer Peter Beard as inspiration, channeling an intellectual-meets-bohemian aesthetic.—
Rhonda Richford,
Footwear News,
10 Oct. 2025
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The combination of pure intellectual inquiries and engineering advancement has been shaping this interdisciplinary field since its creation.—
Zhixin Wang,
The Conversation,
10 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ideational.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ideational. Accessed 13 Oct. 2025.
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