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predicate

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English

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Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From Middle English predicat(e), from Old French predicat (French prédicat), from Medieval Latin praedicātum (“thing said of a subject, predicate”), substantivized from the nominative neuter singular of praedicātus, the perfect passive participle praedicō (“to proclaim”), see -ate (noun-forming suffix); see also Etymology 2 below.

The adjective was derived from the noun by metanalysis, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

Noun

More information Examples (grammar) ...

predicate (plural predicates)

  2. (grammar) The part of the sentence (or clause) which states a property that a subject has or is characterized by.
    Coordinate term: subject
    • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 438:
      In the light of this observation, consider Number Agreement in a sentence like:
      (120)      They seem to me [S — to be fools/✽a fool]
      Here, the Predicate Nominal fools agrees with the italicised NP they, in spite of the fact that (as we argued earlier) the two are contained in different Clauses at S-structure. How can this be? Under the NP MOVEMENT analysis of seem structures, sentences like (120) pose no problem; if we suppose that they originates in the — position as the subordinate Clause Subject, then we can say that the Predicate Nominal agrees with the underlying Subject of its Clause. How does they get from its underlying position as subordinate Clause Subject to its superficial position as main Clause Subject? By NP MOVEMENT, of course!
    • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 323:
      Thus, in (121) (a) persuade is clearly a three-place Predicate — that is, a Predicate which takes three Arguments: the first of these Arguments is the Subject NP John, the second is the Primary Object NP Mary, and the third is the Secondary Object S-bar [that she should resign]. By contrast, believe in (121) (b) is clearly a two-place Predicate (i.e. a Predicate which has two Arguments): its first Argument is the Subject NP John, and its second Argument is the Object S-bar [that Mary was innocent].
  3. (logic) A term of a statement, where the statement may be true or false depending on whether the thing referred to by the values of the statement's variables has the property signified by that (predicative) term.
    A propositional variable may be treated as a nullary predicate.
    A predicate is either valid, satisfiable, or unsatisfiable.
  4. (programming) An operator, expression, or function that returns either true or false.
    • 2000, Ken Henderson, The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page 128:
      Predicates are usually found in a query's WHERE or HAVING clauses, though they can be located elsewhere (e.g. in CASE expressions).
Derived terms
Translations

Adjective

predicate (comparative more predicate, superlative most predicate)

  1. (grammar) Of or related to the predicate of a sentence or clause.
  2. Predicated, stated.
  3. (law) Relating to or being any of a series of criminal acts upon which prosecution for racketeering may be predicated.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Latin praedicātus, perfect passive participle of praedicō (“to publish, declare, proclaim”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from prae- (“before”) + dicō (“to proclaim, dedicate”), related to dīcō (“to say, tell”). Doublet of preach.

Pronunciation

Verb

predicate (third-person singular simple present predicates, present participle predicating, simple past and past participle predicated)

  1. (transitive) To announce, assert, or proclaim publicly.
  2. (transitive) To assume or suppose; to infer.
  3. (transitive, originally US) To base (on); to assert on the grounds of.
    • 1978, Michel Foucault, The Will to Knowledge, trans. Robert Hurley (Penguin 1998, page 81):
      The law is what constitutes both desire and the lack on which it is predicated.
    • 2022 February 2, Jody Rosen, “Why Is Matt Damon Shilling for Crypto?”, in The New York Times Magazine‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      Cryptocurrencies, after all, are in many cases not so much currencies as speculative thingamabobs — digital tokens whose value is predicated largely on the idea that someone will take them off your hands at a higher price than it cost you to acquire them.
      (Can we archive this URL?)
  4. (transitive, grammar) To make a term (or expression) the predicate of a statement.
  5. (transitive, logic) To assert or state as an attribute or quality of something.
    • 1911, Encyclopedia Britannica, Conceptualism
      This quality becomes real as a mental concept when it is predicated of all the objects possessing it (“quod de pluribus natum est praedicari”).
Derived terms
Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

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Ido

Pronunciation

Verb

predicate

  1. adverbial present passive participle of predicar

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

predicate

  1. inflection of predicare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

predicate f pl

  1. feminine plural of predicato

Anagrams

Spanish

Verb

predicate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of predicar combined with te

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