How to Use in theory in a Sentence

in theory

phrase
  • But which offers an (in theory) easier path through the knockout rounds?
    — Eduardo Tansley, New York Times, 27 June 2026
  • Such designs, in theory, enable the entire body to generate lift, not just the wing structures.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 5 July 2026
  • The blood orange and yuzu sound lovely in theory, but the vanilla tilts it into dessert territory — way too sweet and rich.
    — Angela Hansberger, AJC.com, 6 July 2026
  • Arnold, in theory, could have reported to training camp under the microscope of a looming trial.
    — Colton Pouncy, New York Times, 30 June 2026
  • Universal basic capital avoids that problem, at least in theory.
    — Rogé Karma, The Atlantic, 2 July 2026
  • The remainder of that term is another 10 years, meaning, in theory, a decade of annual meetings to decide what happens.
    — Erik Sherman, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
  • The new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, would in theory want to be present and visible and mourn the death of his father alongside the nation.
    — Emma Graham, CNBC, 4 July 2026
  • Ignoring these dynamics in the name of simplicity often results in portfolios that are passive in theory but accidental in practice.
    — David Tepp, Forbes.com, 26 Feb. 2026
  • Joint procurement could, in theory, lower costs, improve interoperability, and create scale.
    — Elsa Ohlen, CNBC, 6 July 2026
  • The proposal could, in theory, help administrators avoid painful solutions for recipients, such as a reduction of Social Security payments.
    — Max Zahn, ABC News, 2 July 2026
  • Nasdaq's inclusion of SpaceX will in theory make the tech-heavy index marginally more volatile overnight given SpaceX's wild swings, but the Nasdaq's rules limit the weight of low float stocks, so the impact will likely be minimal.
    — Oliver Renick, CNBC, 6 July 2026
  • This was despite the Sky deal including a clause that will see £950 million returned to ITV shareholders, in theory reducing the amount of money the Studios business might take to bank.
    — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 6 July 2026
  • If every employee engaged an agentic assistant the way developers engage an agentic IDE, the economic benefits to the vendor (and, at least in theory, to customer enterprises) would be substantial.
    — Jason Andersen, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
  • By negotiating lower net prices with drug manufacturers, CMS established in theory a favorable condition for Part D plan participation in BALANCE.
    — Joshua P. Cohen, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'in theory.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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