- of or like an anecdote
- full of anecdotes
- based on personal experience or reported observations unverified by controlled experiments: anecdotal evidence
adjective
- A funny story about the Roaring Twenties is an example of an anecdotal retelling of the past.
- Asking everyone what they think about a specific subject is an example of collecting anecdotal evidence.
The definition of anecdotal is something that is story-like or something that is based on stories and retellings, not based on provable facts.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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Anecdotal. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Anecdotal
anecdotal
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"Anecdotal." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Anecdotal.
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Anecdotal. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Anecdotal
anecdotal
adjective
- also an·ec·dot·ic or an·ec·dot·i·cal Of, characterized by, or full of anecdotes.
- Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis: “There are anecdotal reports of children poisoned by hot dogs roasted over a fire of the [oleander] stems” ( C. Claiborne Ray )
Related Forms:
- an′ec·dot′al·ist
noun
- an′ec·dot′al·ly
adverb
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"Anecdotal." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Anecdotal.
APA Style
Anecdotal. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Anecdotal
Adjective
(comparative more anecdotal, superlative most anecdotal)
- Of the nature of or relating to an anecdote.
- Containing or abounding in anecdotes.
Origin
anecdote + -al
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"Anecdotal." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Anecdotal.
APA Style
Anecdotal. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Anecdotal
Sentence Examples
- While there are hundreds of anecdotal accounts of people losing significant amounts of weight while using a diet patch, there has been no clinical research to substantiate these claims.
- Chupacabra photographs, along with anecdotal evidence make El Chupacabra an enticing mystery, but zoologists would need to actually find El Chupacabra in the flesh in order for this mysterious and frightening creature to be considered real.
- While there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence, photographs, sonar readings and even video footage, many experts dispute these as hoaxes perpetuated by people who either want to make money or who want to continue the myth and legend.
- A somewhat anecdotal tale of four boys and their experiences as they share a night of bonding, heartbreak and excitement, Palo Alto is sure to touch at the heart of today's youth.
- Not only can you obtain vital information by searching for and examining the cemetery and death records of an ancestor, but you can also obtain a wealth of anecdotal information along the way.
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