apodictic

• apodeictic

From the Latin apodīcticus (“proving clearly”, “demonstrative”), from the Ancient Greek ἀποδεικτικός (apodeiktikós, “affording proof”, “demonstrative”), from ἀποδείκνυμι (apodeíknumi, “I demonstrate”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /apəʊˈdɪktɪk/, /apəʊˈdaɪktɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /apoʊˈdɪktɪk/

apodictic (comparative more apodictic, superlative most apodictic)

1. Incontrovertible; demonstrably true or certain.
   • 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Folio Society 2008, p. 284:

     No religion has ever yet owed its prevalence to ‘apodictic certainty’.

   • 1992, Alexander Jablokov, A Deeper Sea, Avon Books, p. 250:

     The orca spoke in the odd grammatical tense used either to describe dreams, or to make statements so true they were apodictic, such as "All things die" or "Before my conception I did not exist."

2. A style of argument, in which a person presents their reasoning as categorically true, even if it is not necessarily so.

   Don't be so apodictic! You haven't considered several facets of the question.

3. (theology, Biblical studies) Absolute and without explanation, as in a command from God like "Thou shalt not kill!"

• problematic
• assertorical