ontological

adjective

on·​to·​log·​i·​cal ˌän-tə-ˈlä-ji-kəl 

1

: of or relating to ontology

an ontological principle

2

: relating to or based upon being or existence

Virtual environments engage millions of people and billions of dollars each year. What is the ontological status of the virtual objects that populate those environments?

—David Leech Anderson

ontologically

ˌän-tə-ˈlä-ji-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of ontological in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The very purpose of the foundation became a kind of ontological puzzle. —Alice Gregory, New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2025

The transcendental is, for Schrader, expressible only through contradiction: neither the implausible redemption at the end of First Reformed nor the relentlessly pessimistic two hours preceding it but the very juxtaposition of these incommensurable ontological frames. —Roy Scranton august 20, Literary Hub, 20 Aug. 2025

And with that comes profound ontological shock. —Josh Weiss, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2025

Moten provides the ontological frame that haunts much of the preceding work: the notion that Blackness is not a category within being but a rupture of it. —The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 17 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1705, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing ontological

• ontological argument

Rhymes for ontological

• analogical
• astrological
• biological
• christological
• chronological
• cosmological
• cytological
• dialogical
• ecological
• ethnological
• ethological
• geological