theoretically
adverb
the·o·ret·i·cal·ly
ˌthē-ə-ˈre-ti-k(ə-)lē 
ˌthir-ˈe-ti-
1
: according to an ideal or assumed set of facts or principles : in theory
2
: in a theoretical way
Examples of theoretically in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Three workers interviewed by TIME said that the Israeli government could theoretically use AutoML to build a surveillance or targeting tool.
—
Billy Perrigo, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024
Dual identities Park and Kim are among a generation of millennials who grew up in North Korea in the 1990s as capitalism took root in the theoretically communist state.
—Michelle Lee, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
Replete with nerve-shredding, suspenseful set pieces — the wine cellar sequence is Hitchcock at his most sadistically brilliant — Notorious, for all its melodramatic beats, explores the horrible moral tension that lurks in even theoretically altruistic espionage.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 5 Apr. 2024
From there, the shuttle could be refurbished and flown again, theoretically driving down the cost of each mission.
—Jackie Wattles, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
If the value of UST were ever to diverge from $1, traders would theoretically be incentivized to either buy or sell the stablecoin until the target value was restored.
—Joel Khalili, WIRED, 5 Apr. 2024
Lennart Heim, another coauthor of the 2022 paper who leads compute governance work at the Centre for the Governance of AI, warned last year that the hardware cost of training one new frontier AI model could theoretically surpass the entire gross domestic product of the U.S. around the mid-2030s.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024
In some cases that could theoretically increase the number of congresspeople those states can send to the House of Representatives in Washington, although such reapportionment only occurs once a decade.
—David Hamilton, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
At this still-early juncture, just one minor candidate or party has qualified in enough states to theoretically win the presidency with 270 of the Electoral College's 538 electoral votes (note our publication's name).
—Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 21 Mar. 2024
Billy Perrigo, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024
Dual identities Park and Kim are among a generation of millennials who grew up in North Korea in the 1990s as capitalism took root in the theoretically communist state.
—Michelle Lee, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
Replete with nerve-shredding, suspenseful set pieces — the wine cellar sequence is Hitchcock at his most sadistically brilliant — Notorious, for all its melodramatic beats, explores the horrible moral tension that lurks in even theoretically altruistic espionage.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 5 Apr. 2024
From there, the shuttle could be refurbished and flown again, theoretically driving down the cost of each mission.
—Jackie Wattles, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
If the value of UST were ever to diverge from $1, traders would theoretically be incentivized to either buy or sell the stablecoin until the target value was restored.
—Joel Khalili, WIRED, 5 Apr. 2024
Lennart Heim, another coauthor of the 2022 paper who leads compute governance work at the Centre for the Governance of AI, warned last year that the hardware cost of training one new frontier AI model could theoretically surpass the entire gross domestic product of the U.S. around the mid-2030s.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024
In some cases that could theoretically increase the number of congresspeople those states can send to the House of Representatives in Washington, although such reapportionment only occurs once a decade.
—David Hamilton, Quartz, 19 Mar. 2024
At this still-early juncture, just one minor candidate or party has qualified in enough states to theoretically win the presidency with 270 of the Electoral College's 538 electoral votes (note our publication's name).
—Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 21 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'theoretically.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near theoretically
Cite this Entry
“Theoretically.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/theoretically. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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