premise
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An idea that an argument or story is built on.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prehmisSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹɛmɪs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition.
usually in the plural
A piece of real estate; a building and its adjuncts.
logic
A statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn
authorship
The fundamental concept that drives the plot of a film or other story.
logic
Any of the first propositions of a syllogism, from which the conclusion is deduced.
verb
To state or assume something as a proposition to an argument.
Set forth beforehand, often as an explanation
“He premised these remarks so that his readers might understand.”
To set forth beforehand, or as introductory to the main subject; to offer previously, as something to explain or aid in understanding what follows.
To send before the time, or beforehand; hence, to cause to be before something else; to employ previously.
To make a premise.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition.
Used this way, premise is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use premise
- “He premised these remarks so that his readers might understand.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Land and the buildings on it.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The premise of a syllogism that contains the major term (which is the predicate of the conclusion).
The premise of a syllogism that contains the minor term (which is the subject of the conclusion).
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.