Link Centre Dictionary

premise

pre·mise

UK/ˈpɹem.əs/ US/ˈpɹɛm.ɪs/ uncommon
noun (1) verb (3)

noun

1.

a statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn

  • “on the assumption that he has been injured we can infer that he will not to play”
Synonyms

verb

1.

set forth beforehand, often as an explanation

  • “He premised these remarks so that his readers might understand”
2.

furnish with a preface or introduction

  • “She always precedes her lectures with a joke”
  • “He prefaced his lecture with a critical remark about the institution”
Synonyms
3.

Origin

From Middle English premise, premisse, from Old French premisse, from Medieval Latin premissa (“set before”) (premissa propositio (“the proposition set before”)), feminine past participle of Latin praemittere (“to send or put before”), from prae- (“before”) + mittere (“to send”). Sense 4, a piece of real estate arose from the misinterpretation of the word by property owners while reading title deeds where the word was used with the legal sense.

Phrases

  • major premise
  • minor premise
  • premise indicator

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.