“A priori: From the previous: proceeding form cause to effect, or reasoning form a premise or assumption to its logical conclusion; deductive, or according to rational consequences, rather than from the facts of experience; preliminary of prior to examination; accepted without question or examination; arbitrary or presumptive (contrasted with a posteriori). Adj. aprioristic; adv. a priori, aprioristically; n. a priori, apriorist.
‘Sometimes she went even further by insisting he had had a crisis when he thought he had merely a bad cabdriver, but when he accused of her of a priori reasoning, she simply reminded him that he was a classic wunderkind and that all wunderkinder tend to deny they have mild-life crises.’ Nora Ephron, Scribble, Scribble”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
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