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Eclectic vs Dialectic - What's the difference?

eclectic | dialectic |

As adjectives the difference between eclectic and dialectic

is that eclectic is selecting a mixture of what appears to be best of various doctrines, methods or styles while dialectic is dialectical.

As nouns the difference between eclectic and dialectic

is that eclectic is someone who selects according to the eclectic method while dialectic is any formal system of reasoning that arrives at a truth by the exchange of logical arguments.

eclectic

English

Alternative forms

* eclectick (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Selecting a mixture of what appears to be best of various doctrines, methods or styles.
  • * 1893 , John Robson, Hinduism and its Relations to Christianity , page 211, 214
    • Chunder Sen and the Progressive Brahmists broke entirely with Hinduism...and he selected from the scriptures of all creeds what seemed best in them for instruction and for worship. It is an eclectic' religion: it seeks to select what is good from all religions, and it has become the latest evidence that no ' eclectic religion can ever influence large numbers of men.
  • Unrelated and unspecialized; heterogeneous.
  • * 1983 , Peter J. Wilson, Man, the Promising Primate: The Conditions of Human Evolution , page 140
    • All members of the Hominoidea, apes and man, show an eclectic taste in food but select, from a wide range of possibilities, only a few to provide the bulk of their diet.
  • * 2006 , W. Frederick Zimmerman, Should Barack Obama Be President? , page 153
    • Colvin said Obama has an eclectic taste in music, listening to everything from Indonesian flute music to OutKast to Motown.

    Derived terms

    * eclectically * eclecticism

    Synonyms

    * (unrelated and unspecialized) heterogeneous

    Antonyms

    * (selecting a mixture of doctrines) exclusive, homogeneous, orthodox, standard, uniform

    See also

    * cherry pick * heteroclite

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone who selects according to the eclectic method.

    • dialectic

    English

    Alternative forms

    * dialectick (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any formal system of reasoning that arrives at a truth by the exchange of logical arguments.
  • A contradiction of ideas that serves as the determining factor in their interaction.
    • This situation created the inner dialectic of American history.

    Related terms

    * dialect * dialectical * dialogue * trialectic, trialectics

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • dialectical