IN THEORY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does in theory mean? 

• IN THEORY (adverb)
  The adverb IN THEORY has 1 sense:

1. with regard to fundamentals although not concerning details

  Familiarity information: IN THEORY used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IN THEORY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

With regard to fundamentals although not concerning details

Synonyms:

in essence; in principle; in theory

Context example:

in principle, we agree

 Context examples 

In theory, the interaction between the solar wind's energetic particles and atmospheric molecules could explain the GRaND observations.

(Ceres' Geological Activity, Ice Revealed in New Research, NASA)

In theory, antibody-based therapeutics directed at that precise region would be effective against many strains of influenza A virus.

(Human antibody reveals hidden vulnerability in influenza virus, National Institutes of Health)

Silicon vacancies in theory should be electrically neutral, but it turns out other nearby impurities can contribute electrical charges to the defect.

(Key Tech for Quantum Communications Offered by Implanting Diamonds with Flaws, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

However, even this lower age limit was uncertain; in theory, the star could be almost as old as the universe itself.

(TRAPPIST-1 is Older Than Our Solar System, NASA/JPL)

This idea, consolatory in theory, I felt would be terrible if realised: with all my might I endeavoured to stifle it—I endeavoured to be firm.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine created a magnetic wire that could, in theory, be inserted into a person's vein, where it could snatch up tumor cells that had been magnetized by special nanoparticles.

(Magnetic Wires May Soon Be Used in Your Veins to Detect Cancer Earlier, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, an indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats—these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing for mankind—work both in theory and practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)