[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/categorical/)

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# categorical

adjective (categorical; more categorical)

«categorical» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Very clear and certain, with no doubt at all («a categorical no»). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#m1)
2. (maths, formal) To do with categories or groups; categorical data is sorted into groups, not measured with numbers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#m2)

### In the lessons

In everyday life and the news it describes a firm, absolute answer or promise — «a categorical denial». In school maths and statistics, categorical data means things like favourite colour or type of pet, which go into a tally chart, bar chart or pie chart rather than being measured. It tells the reader there is no maybe. Adverb: «categorically».

### Examples

- The head teacher gave a categorical no to phones in class. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#x1)
- The minister issued a categorical denial of the story. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#x2)
- Favourite fruit is categorical data, but height is not. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#x3)
- We sorted the categorical data into a bar chart. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#x4)
- I can say with categorical certainty that I locked the door. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#x5)
- Dad was categorical: no screens after eight. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#x6)
- Eye colour is an example of categorical data. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/#x7)

### Note

Adjective; adverb «categorically» («I categorically refuse»). In maths, categorical data (groups, names) is different from numerical data (measurements, counts); you can count how many are in each group but you cannot find the mean of colours.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «categorical» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/categorical/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«categorical» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/categorical.html) on Mova free.