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without exceptions or conditions; absolute; unqualified and unconditional:
a categorical denial.
Logic.

(of a proposition) analyzable into a subject and an attribute related by a copula, as in the proposition “All humans are mortal.”.
(of a syllogism) having categorical propositions as premises.

of, relating to, or in a category.
Contemporary Examples

The appeal of Kahanism, like all kinds of racism and fascism, lies in its simplicity and categorical consistency.
My Former Life As a Kahanist Posterboy Zack Parker June 16, 2013

Obviously, as a Democratic candidate for governor, he has shifted away from this categorical support for pro-gun measures.
Crusader for Gun Rights Aims for Second Shot With Dems Jamelle Bouie February 18, 2014

Charlene calls reports she tried to flee Monaco ‘categorical lies’
Princess Charlene of Monaco: I Was Not A Runaway Royal Bride Tom Sykes July 13, 2013

categorical “ahas” like Munayyer’s, implicitly saying, “you see, I told you the Zionist project was worthless” don’t help.
Gil Troy Responds to Yousef Munayyer Gil Troy August 20, 2012

He is a writing school of one, and Made to Break ushers his literary energies into categorical existence.
Novelist D. Foy Dubs His Debut ‘Gutter Opera’ And Who Are We To Argue? J.T. Price May 11, 2014

Historical Examples

Also, in its affirmative and categorical forms it has already been made to yield two other categories.
A Commentary to Kant’s ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ Norman Kemp Smith

We hardly know what to say, in answer to this categorical query.
The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, April 1844 Various

The report of the judiciary committee was not acted upon, and thus the Senate avoided a categorical decision.
The Reconstruction of Georgia Edwin C. Woolley

Here steps in the “categorical imperative” with a vengeance.
The Building of a Book Various

“She wus a mighty good wife,” said Alston, without committing himself by a categorical answer.
Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, October, 1877, Vol. XX. No. 118 Various

adjective
unqualified; positive; unconditional: a categorical statement
relating to or included in a category
(logic) another word for categorial
adj.

1590s, as a term in logic, “unqualified, asserting absolutely,” from Late Latin categoricus, from Greek kategorikos “accusatory, affirmative, categorical,” from kategoria (see category). General sense of “explicit, unconditional” is from 1610s. Categorical imperative, from the philosophy of Kant, first recorded 1827. Related: Categorically.