teleological

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English teleology

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Latin -icuslbor.

Old French -iquebor.

Middle English -ik

English -ic

English teleologic

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālisbor.

Old French -albor.

▲

Latin -ālis

Old French -elbor.

▲

Latin -ālisbor.

Middle English -al

English -al

English teleological

From teleologic + -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɛliːəˈlɒdʒɪk(ə)l/

Adjective

teleological (comparative more teleological, superlative most teleological)

1. Of or pertaining to teleology; showing evidence of design or purpose.
   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.19:

     It will be seen that this doctrine is optimistic and teleological: the universe and everything in it is developing towards something continually better than what went before.

   • 1973, Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman, Sleeper, spoken by Miles Monroe (Woody Allen):

     Do I believe in God? I'm what you would call a teleological, existential atheist. I believe that there's an intelligence to the universe, with the exception of certain parts of New Jersey.

Derived terms

• antiteleological
• ateleological
• dysteleological
• nonteleological
• teleological argument
• teleologically
• unteleological

Translations

pertaining to teleology

• Arabic: غَائِيّ (ḡāʔiyy)
• Catalan: teleològic
• Dutch: teleologisch (nl)
• French: téléologique (fr)
• Galician: teleolóxico
• Irish: teileolaíoch
• Italian: teleologico (it)
• Polish: teleologiczny (pl)
• Portuguese: teleológico (pt)
• Romanian: teleologic (ro)
• Spanish: teleológico (es)
• Swedish: teleologisk (sv)
• Turkish: erek bilimsel, teleolojik (tr)