heuristic.

Providing a practical guide or exploratory method that helps solve a problem without guaranteeing the best answer.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• heuristic method
• heuristic device
• heuristic value

On the page

The categories have heuristic value even though some cases cross their boundaries.

A heuristic search found a workable route without proving it was the shortest.

The metaphor serves as a heuristic device, not a literal account of the mechanism.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic. Common in methods discussions; a useful shortcut is not a proof. Also a count noun for such a strategy, but the selected POS is adjective. Normally non-gradable in the recorded adjective sense. Secondary count noun: singular heuristic; plural heuristics. Derived family (not inflections): heuristically.