heu·ris·tic
hyu̇-ˈri-stik 
: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods
heuristic techniques
a heuristic assumption
also
: of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (such as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance
a heuristic computer program
1
: the study or practice of heuristic (see heuristic entry 1) procedure
2
: heuristic (see heuristic entry 1) argument
3
: a heuristic (see heuristic entry 1) method or procedure
Examples of heuristic in a Sentence
Adjective
If Orbitz prevails, its online reservation process alone may blow away the competition. Unlike mainframe-based systems … , Orbitz uses racks of PCs to search fare data, making it easier to scale up computing power. And its intelligent … algorithms evaluate all the possible fares simultaneously instead of employing heuristic shortcuts designed to use as little computing power as possible.
—
Evan Ratliff, WIRED, September 2000
Because "tradition" has served as a powerful heuristic term, we are always in danger of reifying it …
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Reading Black, Reading Feminist, 1990
Its heuristic principle would be St. Augustine's axiom that the Old Testament is revealed in the New and the New concealed in the Old …
—V. B. Leitch, American Literary Criticism from the Thirties to the Eighties, 1988
Noun
"Cult" is best understood not as a descriptor, but as a command, like a law officer's "Halt!" Its purpose is to stop and contain. A more useful heuristic would be to identify precisely the most disturbing practices, beliefs, or incidents in the world of a "cult" …
—Robert A. Orsi, Commonweal, 6 Oct. 2000
Search engines … use heuristics to determine the way in which to order—and thereby prioritize—pages.
—Soumen Chakrabarti et al., Scientific American, June 1999
Evan Ratliff, WIRED, September 2000
Because "tradition" has served as a powerful heuristic term, we are always in danger of reifying it …
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Reading Black, Reading Feminist, 1990
Its heuristic principle would be St. Augustine's axiom that the Old Testament is revealed in the New and the New concealed in the Old …
—V. B. Leitch, American Literary Criticism from the Thirties to the Eighties, 1988
Noun
"Cult" is best understood not as a descriptor, but as a command, like a law officer's "Halt!" Its purpose is to stop and contain. A more useful heuristic would be to identify precisely the most disturbing practices, beliefs, or incidents in the world of a "cult" …
—Robert A. Orsi, Commonweal, 6 Oct. 2000
Search engines … use heuristics to determine the way in which to order—and thereby prioritize—pages.
—Soumen Chakrabarti et al., Scientific American, June 1999
Recent Examples on the Web
Peter Kareiva, Mercury News, 3 Aug. 2025
Copenhagen Optimization’s machine learning models use linear regression, heuristic models, and other techniques to forecast the volume of passenger arrivals based on historical data.
—IEEE Spectrum, 4 June 2025
Josh Brown,sean Russo, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2025
Culture is the accumulation of signals, patterned into norms, routinized into pathways, and finally embedded into the heuristics of an ecosystem.
—Scott Hutcheson, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for heuristic
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Adjective
However, these stories build up and fuel a societal bias known in psychology as the availability heuristic, whereby a person uses a mental shortcut to judge the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind.
—Peter Kareiva, Mercury News, 3 Aug. 2025
Copenhagen Optimization’s machine learning models use linear regression, heuristic models, and other techniques to forecast the volume of passenger arrivals based on historical data.
—IEEE Spectrum, 4 June 2025
Noun
Sean will show you how this heuristic applies to searching for the Best Stocks in the Market, looking top-down by sector.
—Josh Brown,sean Russo, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2025
Culture is the accumulation of signals, patterned into norms, routinized into pathways, and finally embedded into the heuristics of an ecosystem.
—Scott Hutcheson, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for heuristic
Cite this Entry
“Heuristic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heuristic. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share