metaphysical (adj.)

early 15c., metaphisicalle, "pertaining to metaphysics," from methaphesik (late 14c.) + -al, and in part from Medieval Latin metaphysicalis, from Medieval Latin metaphysica (see metaphysics). It came to be used more loosely in the sense of "abstract, speculative, apart from ordinary or practical modes of thought" (among others by Samuel Johnson, who applied it to certain 17c. poets, notably Donne and Cowley, who used "witty conceits" and abstruse imagery), and often had more or less a depreciative sense. Related: Metaphysically.