as in theoretical
dealing with or expressing a quality or idea
ideograms are ideational—they are meant to suggest some general idea and not a particular word or phrase
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Recent Examples of ideational
The ideational content of the image — a man killing another man on a public sidewalk — is only half the message.
—
F.k. Plous, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 2025
This process, which Doten-Snitker and her coauthors term ideational diffusion, often took many years as people in towns and cities needed time to digest new ideas about witchcraft and turn them into behavior.
—Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2024
The ideational content of the image — a man killing another man on a public sidewalk — is only half the message.
—F.k. Plous, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 2025
The United States, of course, cannot share everything—physical or ideational—with its partners.
—Thomas G. Mahnken, Foreign Affairs, 5 June 2024
This ideational convergence, deepened by two decades of accumulating trust between India and the United States, has enhanced the strategic partnership and set the stage for even closer cooperation in the future.
—Ashley J. Tellis, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2020
Steven Spielberg extends Griffith’s and Ford’s historical insight through an astonishing mix of visual and ideational dialectics.
—Armond White, National Review, 28 June 2023
Einstein’s theories as ideational relativism.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 3 May 2021
And the Trump Administration is taking concrete steps to encourage this ideational fusion.
—Time, 13 Dec. 2019
F.k. Plous, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 2025
This process, which Doten-Snitker and her coauthors term ideational diffusion, often took many years as people in towns and cities needed time to digest new ideas about witchcraft and turn them into behavior.
—Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2024
The ideational content of the image — a man killing another man on a public sidewalk — is only half the message.
—F.k. Plous, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 2025
The United States, of course, cannot share everything—physical or ideational—with its partners.
—Thomas G. Mahnken, Foreign Affairs, 5 June 2024
This ideational convergence, deepened by two decades of accumulating trust between India and the United States, has enhanced the strategic partnership and set the stage for even closer cooperation in the future.
—Ashley J. Tellis, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2020
Steven Spielberg extends Griffith’s and Ford’s historical insight through an astonishing mix of visual and ideational dialectics.
—Armond White, National Review, 28 June 2023
Einstein’s theories as ideational relativism.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 3 May 2021
And the Trump Administration is taking concrete steps to encourage this ideational fusion.
—Time, 13 Dec. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ideational
Adjective
-
From my perspective, these shifts aren’t theoretical.—
Jack Thorogood,
Forbes.com,
16 July 2025
-
Carter, who had a doctorate in theoretical physics, dispatched a team of officers to the Bay Area to set up an outpost—officially called the Defense Innovation Unit, but known at the Pentagon as Unit X.—
Dexter Filkins,
New Yorker,
14 July 2025
Adjective
-
The sense of evil has nothing cosmic or metaphysical about it; there’s no grandeur and no wonder to Gunn’s universe and, although there’s much discussion of the defining quality of one’s actions and choices, the film’s superheroes seem thin, constrained, and undefined.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
10 July 2025
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Vendors will offer beads, minerals, gemstones, custom jewelry, fossils, artifacts, and metaphysical stones.—
Joe Rassel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
10 July 2025
Adjective
-
The organization will be using the conceptual designs as opportunities to share with developers, financers, and others who may be interested in contributing.—
Sofia Joseph,
jsonline.com,
18 July 2025
-
Documents submitted by Gomez Construction to the city say its efforts will be based on the conceptual design unanimously recommended in February by the city’s Pulse Memorial Advisory Committee, which is made up of Pulse survivors, victims’ families and community members.—
Silas Morgan,
The Orlando Sentinel,
11 July 2025
Adjective
-
While business leaders understand that activating AI is a significant effort, their understanding tends to be abstract.—
Patrick Moorhead,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
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Editor’s tip: Browse the property’s private art collection, including abstract works by Jordi Boldó and black-and-white images by the contemporary photographer Graciela Iturbide.—
Michaela Trimble,
Vogue,
13 July 2025
Adjective
-
This definition also includes instance in which the victim is incapable of giving consent because of temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity (include due to the influence of drugs or alcohol) or because of age.—
Baltimore Sun staff,
Baltimore Sun,
11 Apr. 2025
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Without supervision or regulation, kids can easily stumble upon explicit material, including violent and extremist content, that can lead to mental distress, desensitization and a warped perception of the world around them.—
Richard Wistocki,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Jesse Watters and Kellyanne Conway, who are to intellectual discourse what Kryptonite is to Superman's powers, weighed in on Fox News, of course.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
11 July 2025
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Curiosity is what sharpens our intellectual powers, and keeps us mentally active well into our golden years.—
Anthony Fredericks,
CNBC,
11 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ideational.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ideational. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
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