modeltheoretically

Modeltheoretically is an adverb used to denote that a statement, argument, or method is grounded in, or conducted by, the tools and perspective of model theory. Model theory studies the relationships between formal languages and their interpretations as mathematical structures, called models. Accordingly, to argue modeltheoretically often means employing concepts such as elementary embeddings, types and saturation, compactness, ultraproducts, and the transfer of properties between theories and their models, rather than relying solely on combinatorial or algebraic techniques. The term can modify truth claims (theories are modeltheoretically complete), methods (a proof is modeltheoretically constructed), or insights (a phenomenon is modeltheoretically witnessed).

Modeltheoretically oriented work appears across many areas of mathematics, including algebra, geometry, analysis, and set theory, with notable subfields such as stability theory, o-minimality, and the model theory of valued fields. It often aims to understand definable sets, types, and independence notions within a theory, or to analyze how model-theoretic properties like categoricity, stability, or simplicity constrain algebraic or geometric behavior. The term is primarily used in scholarly writing to distinguish model-theoretic reasoning from purely syntactic or elementary combinatorial proofs, and it underscores a methodological stance rather than a separate mathematical object.