α. late Middle English– predicate, 1500s predicat (Scottish), 1600s–1800s praedicate.
β. 1500s praedicatum, 1500s predicatum.
predicaten.adj.
/ˈprɛdᵻkət/, U.S. /ˈprɛdəkət/ A. n.† 5. The judgement made regarding a candidate's work in an examination; the class obtained by a candidate. Obsolete. rare.
1. Logic. That which is said of a subject; esp. (in the traditional logic of categorical propositions) what is affirmed or denied of the subject of a proposition by means of the copula.For example, my father in this man is my father, mortal in all men are mortal.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > term of a proposition > [noun] > predicate
predicatec1450
predicament1579
categorem1588
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Katherine (Arun. 396) (1893) iv. 2016 (MED) Oure scripture..hath many fygures..Oure lord god is somtyme called a leche, Somtyme a Iustyse and ful of wreche, Somtyme a fadir al ful of loue; Swhiche sondry predicates in hym wil I proue.
c1475 Court of Sapience (Trin. Cambr.) (1927) 1853 The comone tretyse taught she theym therewyth:..Whyche ys subiect, couple and predicate.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 451/1 Where the thinges that we speake of or the article of ye diuersitie of the word whiche is in the verbe in our englishe tonge,..maketh the matter open which of the two termes we take for subiectum & which for prædicatum.
1582 R. Parsons Def. Censure 124 Nothing, but maketh a long idle speake of prædicatum and subiectum, as pertinent to the mater, as charing crosse to byllingsgate.
1612 T. Taylor Αρχὴν Ἁπάντων: Comm. Epist. Paul to Titus (ii. 13) 482 The Apostle..vseth but one article, to note but one subiect, to whom both the predicates most truely and properly agree.
a1688 R. Cudworth Treat. Eternal & Immutable Morality (1731) iii. iii. 95 (As Aristotle observes) in all Affirmation, and Negation at least, the Predicate is always Universal.
1754 J. Edwards Careful Enq. Freedom of Will i. iii. 16 When the Subject and Predicate of the Proposition, which affirms the Existence of any Thing, either Substance, Quality, Act or Circumstance, have a full and certain Connection, then the Existence or Being of that Thing is said to be necessary in a metaphysical Sense.
1809–10 S. T. Coleridge Friend (1818) III. 212 Existence is its own predicate [i.e. The word is when it means exists is a predicate as well as a copula].
1867 T. Fowler Elem. Deduct. Logic ii. iv. 34 All negative propositions distribute their predicate, whereas affirmative propositions do not.
1955 Philos. & Phenomenol. Res. 15 389 The predicate may be attributed to the subject taken universally or particularly, e.g., ‘Every dinosaur is animal’, and ‘Some dinosaur is animal’.
1988 A. C. Grayling Wittgenstein i. 17 The subject term refers to something, and the predicate says of that something that it has a certain property or quality.
2.
a. A quality, an attribute.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > [noun] > a property, quality, or attribute
i-cundeOE
kindOE
thingOE
quality1340
virtue1340
assizea1375
propertyc1390
principlea1398
conditionc1460
faculty1490
predicatea1513
epitheton1547
passion1570
propriety1584
affection1588
attribute1603
qualification1616
appropriate1618
intimacy1641
bedighting1674
belonger1674
cleaver1674
interiority1701
internal property1751
predicable1785
coloration1799
internality1839
a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 158 For the perfecciounis and predicatis of God are verefiit of man, and thai that convenis to man we graunt to God.
1872 G. S. Morris tr. F. Ueberweg Hist. Philos. I. §106. 475 To the revealed God belong the divine predicates, and especially the predicate of reason.
1875 G. H. Lewes Probl. Life & Mind II. iii. ii. §24. 150 For predicates—qualities—are not mere patterns on the web of a subject; they are the threads of that web.
1951 W. M. Urban Humanity & Deity ii. 58 The religious hymn, psalm or ode invokes objects, but it also ascribes predicates or qualities to those objects.
1992 I. Murdoch Metaphysics as Guide to Morals 393 To exist in re is taken to be a quality (predicate) in the case of something good a perfection, which is extra to that of existing only in intellectu.
b. A personal appellation or title that asserts something about the person who bears it.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > name or appellation > [noun] > descriptive or connotative name
appellation1581
designation1614
predicate1837
1837 Times 3 Jan. 1/6 If the eldest son of the King dies during his father's life, the title of Crown Prince and the predicate of Royal Highness go to the eldest son of the Crown Prince who is qualified to succeed.
1882–3 Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. I. 594/1 Nestorius refused to give to Mary the prædicate θεοτόκος.
1905 Washington Post 1 Oct. 7/1 Since then the predicate of ‘serene highness’ has been accorded to a number of nonmediatized dukes and princes who figure in ‘Part III of the Almanach de Gotha’.
1918 A. C. Knudson Relig. Teaching Old Testament xv. 373 Divine predicates are used of him [sc. the Messiah], his rule is said to be without limit, and his birth is apparently thought of as attended by some remarkable portent.
1981 M. Walker Johann Jakob Moser iii. 25 Perhaps, Moser conceded, he should have used the predicate ‘Illustre’ for Professor Schweder, an honorific he surely deserved.
3.
a. Grammar. The part of a sentence or clause containing what is said about a subject (e.g. went home in John went home yesterday), sometimes excluding any adjunct (yesterday in this example). The grammatical predicate is either a simple verb, or a verb of incomplete predication with its complement.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > syntax or word order > syntactic unit or constituent > [noun] > predicate
predicatea1638
predicative1914
a1638 J. Mede Contin. of Certain Disc. (1648) 314 So much for the subject, The Righteous: The next is the Prædicate, shall be in everlasting remembrance.
a1678 J. Newton Eng. Acad. (ed. 2) vi. i. 153 That is called the Subject, of which we speak; The Predicate, is that which is spoken of the Subject; and the Copula, is some Verb, which joyns the Subject with the Predicate.
1786 H. C. Albrecht Short Gram. German Tongue 81 There is a particular kind of Pronouns in the German language, which serves to refer a Predicate to the Subject denoted by the Pronoun.
1852 J. D. Morell Anal. Sentences i. §9. 14 The predicate affirms respecting the subject either—What it is; or, What it does; or, What it suffers. Man is mortal. The snow falls. The child was neglected.
1858 C. P. Mason Eng. Gram. §§347–8. 92 Inasmuch as the personal terminations of a verb have no existence apart from the verb itself, it is usual (and convenient) in grammar to treat the copula as a part of the predicate. Thus in the sentence ‘Time flies’, time is called the subject, and flies the predicate... In using the word predicate, we mean the predicate and copula combined. In grammar, the terms subject and predicate are used in a more restricted sense than in Logic.
1874 A. H. Sayce Princ. Compar. Philol. i. 9 Every predicate must have a subject.
1921 E. Sapir Lang. ii. 37 The reduced sentence resolves itself into the subject of discourse—the mayor—and the predicate—is going to deliver a speech. It is customary to say that the true subject of such a sentence is mayor, the true predicate is going or even is.
1968 J. Lyons Introd. Theoret. Linguistics viii. 334 John killed Bill in Central Park on Sunday. The subject is John; the predicate is killed Bill; and in Central Park and on Sunday are adjuncts.
1992 R. M. W. Dixon New Approach Eng. Gram. ii. 19 In modern English the function of an NP [= noun phrase] is generally shown by its place in order—subject before and object after the predicate in a simple clause.
b. Mathematics and Logic. A sentence having one or more terms unspecified, esp. one having no terms specified; a relation; a propositional function.The generalization of predicate (German Prädikat) to include relations (many-place predicates) originated in D. Hilbert & W. Ackermann Grundzüge der theoretischen Logik (1928) 45: see quot. 1950.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > predicate or propositional logic > [noun] > propositional function
predicate1903
propositional function1903
statement form1931
functor1937
1903 B. Russell Princ. Math. vi. §66. 67 Thus every predicate (provided it can be sometimes truly predicated) gives rise to a class. This is the genesis of classes from the intensional standpoint.
1937 S. K. Langer Introd. Symbolic Logic vii. 158 ‘Being white’ has the properties of such a relation; any term, a, has it or does not have it, but since there is no second term we cannot say that a has this relation to any other. Such a relation of ‘monadic’ degree is called a predicate.
1950 tr. Hilbert & Ackermann's Princ. Math. Logic iii. 57 To the formula x + y = z there corresponds a triadic predicate S(x, y, z). The truth of S(x, y, z) means that x, y, and z are connected by the relation x + y = z. Note Hitherto it has been customary in logic to call only functions with one argument place predicates, while functions with more than one place were called relations. Here we use the word ‘predicate’ in a quite general sense.
1969 D. J. Foulis Fund. Concepts Math. i. 14 Suppose that P(x)..becomes a proposition whenever x takes on any particular value in U. Then P(x) is called a predicate or a propositional function, and the object variable x is called its argument.
1973 H. Hermes Introd. Math. Logic i. 40 In the statement The crown jewels are kept in the Tower of London, The crown jewels and the Tower of London can be understood as names for individuals and are kept in as a name for a predicate... are kept in is a name for a two-place predicate... is tall is a name for a one-place predicate.
2004 M. Potter Set Theory & its Philos. ii. 24 To ring-fence the individuals, then, we introduce a predicate U (x ) to mean that x is an individual, and we relativize all the axioms of T to U.
4. U.S. Law. A basis or foundation on which something rests. Cf. sense B.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > cause or reason > [noun] > fundamental reason or logical basis
reasona1425
rational1621
ratio1638
rationality1646
rationale1651
predicate1832
1832 A. S. Lipscomb in G. N. Stewart Rep. Supreme Court Alabama 2 120 The decree of the Circuit Chancellor was predicated on the ground that he supposed the relief was ample and sufficient at common law, and if this predicate is correct, there is no doubt but his conclusion was also correct.
1845 B. C. Howard Rep. Supreme Court U.S. 3 32 An incomplete claim to land under Spanish authority, was admitted in evidence..for the purpose of laying a predicate, from which it was presumed that [etc.].
1885 F. Wharton Treat. Criminal Law (ed. 9) I. 389 To establish the predicate of ‘premeditated’, which, under most of the statutes, is an essential incident of murder in the first degree, it has been said that [etc.].
1952 Court-martial Rep. 2 139/2 If the accused were charged with murder, no one would contend that all the elements of that crime should not be mentioned. But, too often, the necessity to give the same information is overlooked when the crime is used as a predicate for an assault.
1992 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Jan. 37/2 Along with charges of gambling, loan-sharking, and transporting stolen goods across state lines, she alleged as a RICO predicate the 1973 killing of James McBratney.
2002 Legal Times (Nexis) 9 Dec. 9 The Hobbs Act violations could be used as a predicate for showing an illegal conspiracy under RICO.
ΚΠ
1899 Daily News 30 May 8/5 A student friend of Count Leo Tolstoi..relates about the time he spent with Tolstoi at the University of Kasan... At the examination he [sc. Tolstoi] very often was at a loss for an answer, and received very unsatisfactory predicates.
B. adj.
U.S. Law. Of, relating to, or designating a crime that influences the sentencing, prosecution, etc., of a subsequent offence; (of a person) that is considered to have committed such a crime. Cf. sense A. 4.
ΚΠ
1962 N.Y. Suppl. 2nd Ser. 229 214 A murder-defendant is not deemed to have been in danger of conviction of the felony where his counsel, at the trial, renounces any right to have a jury consider the client's guilt of the lesser, predicate-crime.
1978 Jrnl. Criminal Law & Criminol. 69 7/2 The defendant argued that the alleged offense should not have been used as a predicate offense for a RICO indictment.
1985 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald-Jrnl. 13 July a4/3 The judge sentenced the defendant as a predicate felon because Donaldson was convicted on a first-degree assault charge in 1970.
2000 K. Reichs Deadly Décisions xviii. 145 The gathering of historic information is one of my mandates. Predicate acts are often important in RICO investigations.
Compounds
(Chiefly in sense A. 3a.) Frequently attributive. C1.
predicate accusative n.
ΚΠ
1845 E. A. Andrews Sallust's Hist. of War Against Jugurtha (ed. 2) 307 Gloriam meam is the predicate accusative, but placed before the subject for emphasis.
1887 W. W. Goodwin Elem. Greek Gram. iii. 194 The predicate nominative with the passive verbs of this class represents the predicate accusative of the active construction.
1998 E. Carawan Rhetoric & Law of Draco i. iii. 69 The verb dikazein is not found in comparable usage with indirect statement or predicate accusative (judge him guilty).
predicate adjective n.
ΚΠ
1855 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 5 146 An adjective used as a predicate never takes the article. This is of course founded on the general principles of language, the predicate adjective being abstract and in some degree indefinite.
1887 W. W. Goodwin Elem. Greek Gram. iii. 196 The predicate adjective may be connected with its noun by the copula..or by a copulative verb.
1992 Amer. Speech 67 49 There is an almost equal balance of is absence and is presence before predicate adjectives and locatives in the New York City data.
predicate centre n.
ΚΠ
1958 Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics 24 45/1 The utterance follows what I regard as the basic word-order, the subject..being inserted between the predicate centre..and the goal of the action.
1966 R. A. Hall Pidgin & Creole Lang. vi. 84 In the predicates of most pidgins and creoles, we find..virtually any type of free form of phrase, without any verb. Here are a few examples of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives as predicate-centers.
predicate-centred adj.
ΚΠ
1970 Amer. Speech 45 265 He differs from Becker in choosing a predicate-centered approach in which the verb is the central element.
1995 B. Levin in D. E. Walker et al. Automating Lexicon iii. 56 The majority of proposed lexical semantic representations can be characterized as being of one of two types, semantic role-centred, taking the form of a semantic role list, or predicate-centred, taking the form of a predicate decomposition.
predicate clause n.
ΚΠ
1868 S. Kerl Common-school Gramm. Eng. Lang. 247 Is that the soul is immortal, is the principal predicate; is is the predicate-verb, and it is combined with the predicate clause after it, which is explanatory of the subject.
1966 Eng. Stud. 47 257 Grammatically that-clauses..may also function as predicate clauses.
2001 Jrnl. Speech, Lang., & Hearing Res. (Nexis) 1 Oct. 1083 Utterances in which a full subject and predicate clause replaces the noun phrase, usually in the object position of the main clause.
predicate expression n.
ΚΠ
1912 Trans. & Proc. Amer. Philol. Assoc. 43 192 Nakhodit'sia is uzed[sic] chiefly with predicate expressions in the form of frazes[sic] indicating the plase[sic], state or conditions in which the subject ‘finds itself’.
2004 Game Developer (Nexis) 1 Mar. 15 The traditional handling of predicate expressions, in languages like Prolog, has some problems that need to be addressed.
predicate marker n.
ΚΠ
1943 Language 19 266 The Third-Person Predicate-marker i- is sometimes used and sometimes not, but in general less frequently and regularly than in Melanesian Pidgin.
1988 Eng. World-wide 9 263 The appearance of the predicate marker after tense, mood and aspect markers is very marginal now in urban areas.
predicate nominal n. and adj.
ΚΠ
1960 R. B. Lees Gram. Eng. Nominalizations i. 5 Nominals occur as high-order constituents of the predicate, as objects of transitive verbs and predicate nominals in predicative type sentences.
1965 N. Chomsky Aspects Theory Syntax iv. 181 ‘Bill is a lawyer.’ The Predicate-Nominal of the latter is not singular, in the base structure.
1992 Amer. Speech 67 49 Forms of is are used a majority of the time in predicate nominal environments... There is an almost equal balance of is absence and is presence before predicate adjectives and locatives in the New York City data.
predicate nominative n.
ΚΠ
1887 W. W. Goodwin Elem. Greek Gram. iii. 194 The predicate nominative with the passive verbs of this class represents the predicate accusative of the active construction.
1943 M. A. Pei Langs. for War & Peace xii. 423 The nominative case is primarily the case of the subject or of the predicate nominative.
2002 D. E. Watters Gram. of Kham vi. 114 Nominalized verbs in Kham can function as restrictive modifiers.., but also in predicate-adjective and predicate-nominative constructions.
predicate-part n.
ΚΠ
1874 J. Mulligan Expos. Gramm. Struct. Eng. Lang. vii. 297 When we distinguish..in the verb to be, as in other verbs, the predicate part of the word from the indication of assertion, it may probably lead to an important modification of the manner in which logicians commonly present this subject.
1924 O. Jespersen Philos. Gram. 145 We might also use the terms ‘subject-part’ and ‘predicate-part’ instead of ‘primary’ and ‘adnex’.
1988 Noûs 22 553 The predicate-part of one's reasons should not contain any ineliminable reference to individual beings.
predicate phrase n.
ΚΠ
1931 Mind 40 190 The subject-phrase is the part of the sentence before the verb. The predicate-phrase is the part after the subject-phrase.
1965 N. Chomsky Aspects Theory Syntax ii. 102 The Place and Time Adverbials that are associated with the full Predicate-Phrase.
1998 Language 74 249 An identificational focus represents a subset of the set of contextually or situationally given elements for which the predicate phrase can potentially hold.
predicate-position n.
ΚΠ
1871 J. Hadley Greek Gram. (new ed.) 219 Some adjectives of place, used in the predicate position, refer to a part of the subject.
1955 A. N. Prior Formal Logic ii. iii. 160 The Schoolmen also very freely substitute singular terms for general ones, in the predicate- as well as the subject-position.
2003 Bull. Symbolic Logic 9 41 Semantic uniformity demands that we take predicates to designate properties when they occupy the predicate position in a sentence.
predicate prefix n.
ΚΠ
1877 Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. 1876 146 Selecting as types the Mexican and the Greenlandish, he decides that..the so-called Mexican verb is a noun with a predicate-prefix.
1966 R. A. Hall Pidgin & Creole Lang. vi. 83 Haitian and the other Central American French-based creoles have a series of predicate-prefixes, which indicate negation..and tense.
1983 Jrnl. Symbolic Logic 48 1194 Predicate prefix.
predicate sentence n.
ΚΠ
1952 P. F. Strawson Introd. Logical Theory vi. 190 It is often said that the verbal or grammatical form of a sentence such as ‘The King of France is wise’ is misleading as to its logical form; in that it looks like a subject-predicate sentence, while really being existential.]
1959 I. Levi tr. R. Carnap in A. J. Ayer Logical Positivism vi. 138 Restriction to predicate-sentences has had disastrous effects on subjects outside logic.
2000 D. Massam in A. Carnie & E. Guilfoyle Syntax Verb Initial Langs. vi. 97 A brief examination of non-verbal predicate sentences, and of noun incorporation structures, leads to the conclusion that Niuean is not a verb-fronting language.
predicate stress n.
ΚΠ
1934 R. C. Priebsch & W. E. Collinson German Lang. i. iii. 60 We might term such stresses predicate stresses, for they indicate what is the logical (if not the grammatical) predicate.
predicate-taking adj.
ΚΠ
1974 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 19 ii. 153 Not only is there a problem for the analyst of knowing when to..assign a predicate-taking adjective to an easy or eager deep structure.
predicate term n.
ΚΠ
1856 W. D. Wilson Elem. Treat. Logic ii. 76 In Negative Propositions, in consequence of the fact that the Predicate is distributed, we may substitute in the Predicate terms in the inverse order.
1901 A. Sidgwick Use of Words 157 Predicate terms depend on artificial distinction.
1999 Bull. Symbolic Logic 5 452 Aristotle recognized that the validity of a syllogistic argument is determined by the forms of the categorical statements that constitute its premises and conclusion, and has nothing to do with the particular subject and predicate terms of those statements.
predicate variable n.
ΚΠ
1934 Mind 43 75 The operation of predication is represented by placing the predicate-variable before the subject-variables, of which is it predicated.
1955 A. N. Prior Formal Logic ii. iii. 158 The nearest thing to a general term-variable in the functional calculus is the predicate-variable (ϕ, etc.).
2004 Bull. Symbolic Logic. 10 158 Let F be a predicate variable, and let ρ(x,y) be a formula with x and y free.
predicate word n.
ΚΠ
1858 P. Bullions First Part Jacob's Lat. Reader 60 In all such sentences the predicate word, if a noun, comes under R[ule] V.
1932 A. H. Gardiner Theory of Speech & Lang. iv. 216 The subject-word places before the listener a thing to which he is to direct his attention, and the predicate-word tells him what he is to perceive or think about it.
2000 H. Pietersma Phenomenol. Epistemol. iv. 150 It is plausible to think that objectification leads to predication; one focuses on something and then says something about it. In philosophical parlance, one applies a predicate word to the object we have before us.
C2.
predicate calculus n. [after German Prädikatenkalkül ( D. Hilbert & W. Ackermann Grundzüge der theoretischen Logik (1928) ii. 34).] the branch of symbolic logic concerned with the internal structures of propositions containing arguments and quantifiers as well as the relations between them; also called functional calculus; cf. propositional calculus n. at propositional adj. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > calculus > [noun] > other forms of
calculus of variations1810
predicate calculus1938
1938 Jrnl. Symbolic Logic 3 91 By the ‘erweiterten einstelligen Prädikatenkalkul’ is meant the one-place predicate calculus with equality added.
1979 Sci. Amer. May 131/1 Could there exist an algorithm such that when it was given a statement written in precise mathematical language, it would report eventually whether the statement was true or false?.. For a powerful formalized language known as the predicate calculus it has been shown that no such algorithm exists.
2004 M. Potter Set Theory & its Philos. i. 12 First-order predicate calculus is thus contrasted with the second-order version which permits in addition the use of quantified variables ranging over properties of objects.
Derivatives
ˈpredicateless adj. rare of which nothing can be predicated; lacking a predicate or predicates.
ΚΠ
1864 W. G. T. Shedd Hist. Christian Doctr. I. iii. i. 241 There is no such dark predicateless ground; there is no such Gnostic abyss.
1925 Philos. Rev. 34 508 The doctrine of transcendentalism..makes possible the development of a concrete ethics: the Absolute is conceived as predicateless Vorbegreiflichkeit, and the logical and the moral a priori are seen as completely independent of each other.
1986 Speculum 61 423 The idea that the song is its own predicateless subject is not simply wrong, it is precisely wrong, an exact obliteration of the medieval lyric's essential nature and purpose.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
predicatev.
/ˈprɛdᵻkeɪt/, U.S. /ˈprɛdəˌkeɪt/ 1. † b. intransitive. To make an assertion. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To announce or declare publicly; to preach; to assert or affirm as true or existent. Also: †to praise or commend publicly, to extol (obsolete). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > commend or praise [verb (transitive)]
heryc735
mickleeOE
loveOE
praise?c1225
upraisea1300
alosec1300
commenda1340
allow1340
laud1377
lose1377
avauntc1380
magnifya1382
enhancea1400
roosea1400
recommendc1400
recommanda1413
to bear up?a1425
exalt1430
to say well (also evil, ill, etc.) of (also by)1445
laudifyc1470
gloryc1475
advance1483
to bear out1485
prizec1485
to be or to have in laudationa1500
joya1500
extol1509
collaud1512
concend?1521
solemnize?1521
celebrate1522
stellify1523
to set up1535
well-word1547
predicate1552
glorify1557
to set forth1565
admire1566
to be up with1592
voice1594
magnificate1598
plaud1598
concelebrate1599
encomionize1599
to con laud1602
applauda1616
panegyrize1617
acclamate1624
to set offa1625
acclaim1626
raise1645
complement1649
encomiate1651
voguec1661
phrase1675
to set out1688
Alexander1700
talk1723
panegyricize1777
bemouth1799
eulogizea1810
rhapsodize1819
crack up1829
rhapsody1847
the mind > language > speech > speech-making > deliver (a speech) [verb (transitive)] > set forth with a speech
predicate1552
speech1682
oratorize1853
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (transitive)]
vowc1330
anferme1340
affirma1382
willa1382
threapc1386
avow1393
to make oneself strongc1425
maintain?c1430
protest1440
traverse1491
assure1509
ferma1525
verc1540
profess1542
enforce1579
justify1579
aver1582
to take on1583
asserta1604
will1614
assevera1618
positive1656
autume1661
declare1709
obtesta1722
predicate1782
asseveratea1847
society > faith > worship > preaching > preach [verb (transitive)]
bodea1000
sermonc1175
spellc1175
preacha1300
sermon1819
predicate1822
sermonize1860
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Predicate, prædico.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Predicate, to tell abroad, to report.
1624 Abp. G. Abbot Treat. Perpetuall Visibilitie True Church 114 They doat much vpon themselues,..who..doe predicate and magnifie their Synagogue, as the vnspotted wife and mysticall body of our most blessed Sauiour.
1635 A. Stafford Femall Glory 82 The more her vertue is predicated by her cousen, the more she humbles her selfe.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Predicate, to publish, to cry, or preach up.
1782 V. Knox Ess. (new ed.) I. lxvi. 289 Can all this be predicated with any regard to veracity?
1822 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 12 607 Composing discourses, which..might not have been unprofitably predicated from the pulpit.
1884 19th Cent. Feb. 186 Many truths may be predicated about Scripture.
1990 Jrnl. Semitic Stud. 35 191 Dr R. Mason made the observation that the innocence of the Servant is predicated by the speakers of 1–11a and not by Yahweh himself.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (intransitive)]
protesta1486
assertionate1593
aver1599
contest1607
asseverate1807
gage1811
predicate1828
pose1840
to take one's dick1861
to stick up1876
1828 H. Steuart Planter's Guide iv. 101 To predicate, then, or affirm certainly, as to their respective usefulness..,is, properly speaking, more fanciful than real.
1866 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 1st Ser. 189 To think is mentally to predicate.
2.
a. transitive. Logic. To state or assert (something) about the subject of a proposition; †(also) to make (a term) the predicate in a proposition (obsolete). Usually in passive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > term of a proposition > [verb (transitive)]
predicate1563
subject1628
quantify1847
predesignatea1856
1563 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments 943/2 Substantia may be predicated denominatiuely..or in a figuratiue locution.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 129 How they be predicated, and how subiected.
1696 J. Sergeant Meth. to Sc. 122 From what's said above we may gather, that there may be diverse manners of Predicating or referring one Notion to another.
1725 I. Watts Logick iii. ii. §3 There is also a fourth figure, wherein the middle term is predicated in the major proposition, and subjected in the minor.
1864 F. C. Bowen Treat. Logic viii. 230 We prove that it is right to predicate mortality of Socrates, by showing that Socrates belongs to the class man, all the members of which are admitted to be mortal.
1903 B. Russell Princ. Math. vi. §66. 67 Thus every predicate (provided it can be sometimes truly predicated) gives rise to a class. This is the genesis of classes from the intensional standpoint.
1993 Philos. Perspectives 7 74 To allow ‘xy’ to be well-formed would be to allow that any possible value of ‘x’ can sensibly be predicated of an arbitrary object y.
b. transitive. To assert or affirm as a quality, property, or attribute of. (In quot. 1677 intransitive: to allow of such assertion.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > inhere in or be an attribute of [verb (transitive)] > attribute or ascribe as an attribute
puta1382
applya1393
suppose?a1425
ascribec1475
attach?1531
attribute1533
adscribe1534
assign?1541
allude1561
repose1561
predicate1614
1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor 126 As it is inherent, and not predicated of the Person, its best exprest for its own Essence.
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 26 Such arguments as be essentiall vnto the thing, of which they are predicated.
1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV ii. iii. 248 That nothing can predicate univocally of God and the Creature is most evident; because [etc.].
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. ii. xvii. 306 Tho' he corrected his Disposition by Philosophy, he was indeed naturally as inclined to Vice as had been predicated of him. View more context for this quotation
1780 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. (1789) xi. §1 It has been shown..that goodness or badness cannot with any propriety be predicated of motives.
1796 R. Bage Hermsprong II. v. 35 One of their divines, if any thing divine could be predicated of so abhorred a sect, has absolutely denied the most important tenet of our holy religion.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe IV. iv. 322 The schoolmen..deeming it necessary to predicate metaphysical infinity of all the divine attributes.
1852 C. Kingsley Lett. (1878) I. 315 Of whatsoever you predicate Time you must also predicate Space.
1907 W. James Pragmatism iv. 132 Many distinct ways in which a oneness predicated of the universe might make a difference, come to view.
1962 E. Waugh Essays, Articles & Rev. (1986) 601 Humour and compassion are the qualities inevitably and most justly predicated of him.
1987 L. Krukowski Art & Concept i. 12 Progress, when predicated of art history, implies that late art is ‘better’ in some important way than is early art.
2001 D. Hampson Christian Contradictions iv. 161 Luther and Thomas are at one in thinking that such a love cannot be predicated of God.
3. transitive. = predict v. rare.Criticized by a number of grammarians and marked by N.E.D. (1908) as a catachrestic use, but never common.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > predict, foretell [verb (transitive)]
fore-sayc900
bodeOE
before-sayOE
before-tella1382
foretella1400
prognostica1400
tella1400
prenosticate?a1475
prenostic1477
prognosticatec1487
forespeak1489
prognostify1495
foreshow1561
prenunce1563
presage1569
boden1573
forewarn1582
predict1590
forehalsen1594
foresignify1597
prognosticon1602
predivine1607
forespell1611
predicate1623
prenuntiate1623
preadmonish1644
forebode1664
prediction1665
prenotea1711
bespeak1721
pre-announce1793
prophesize1848
to call for ——1895
pick1909
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. Predicate, to foretell.
1679 in New-Eng. Historical & Geneal. Reg. (1850) IV. 131 The dark Eclipses of our lights accord To praedicate a famine of ye word.
1873–4 W. H. Dixon Hist. Two Queens III. xiv. vi. 101 That shrewd Venetian envoy heard enough to predicate the rising of domestic storms.
1897 Globe 3 Dec. 1/4 Slight falls of snow..together with the appearance of large flocks of gulls inland, is held to predicate a hard winter.
1996 Space Shifting in sci.physics.electromag (Usenet newsgroup) 8 June If one day we could stumble upon the solution, well I predicate that there will be a whole lot of other possibilities derived from that discovery.
4. transitive. To postulate, suppose, assume; frequently spec. to presuppose. Also with abstract subject: to imply, require as a presupposition.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > supposition, surmise > taking for granted, presumption > assume, presuppose [verb (transitive)]
supposec1350
presumec1390
take1429
presupposec1443
takec1449
presupponec1475
supponea1513
subsume1562
foreprise1577
to take for granted1615
to give for granted1637
assume1660
foretake1674
premisea1706
predicate1718
dare say1749
pre-assume1789
1718 Entertainer No. 28. 190 If Atheism predicates Honesty, some of the Whigs..may put in their claim to it.
a1834 C. Lamb Captain Starkey in Eliana (1865) 146 [He] had that peculiar stamp of old-fashionedness in his face which makes it impossible for a beholder to predicate any particular age in the object.
1900 W. W. Willoughby Social Justice x. 335 The moral responsibility in the criminal which the retributive theory necessarily predicates.
1911 Times 1 Feb. 14/3 I ask you, then, what is the present position? Have we the superiority of two to one which is predicated by the Admiral?
1978 F. Weldon Praxis ii. 13 Unless..we predicate some natural law of male dominance and female subservience, and call that God.
1983 Manch. Guardian Weekly (Nexis) 31 July 21 Lester's idea of dividing these scenes from the more personal episodes predicates a better screenplay than he's got.
5. transitive. Originally U.S. To affirm or postulate on the basis of; to base on or found upon.Criticized by a number of grammarians of the mid 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [verb (transitive)] > on given grounds
predicate1754
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > process of reasoning, ratiocination > argument, source of conviction > use as basis [verb]
ground?1531
predicate1754
to start with ——1820
to start from ——1827
to start from ——1827
1754 T. Clap Relig. Constit. Colleges 8 The first Act, or Charter, of the General Assembly, is predicated, ‘Upon the Desire of several well dispos'd Persons, of their sincere Regard to, and Zeal for, the Upholding, and Propagating, the Christian, Protestant Religion’.
1796 G. Washington Writings (1892) XIII. 227 Was not the first application to you predicated on this information?
1826 Times 2 Jan. 2/6 This invitation was predicated upon the circumstance of his Excellency's being about to relinquish the gubernatorial chair.
1888 G. Cleveland in Daily News 10 Sept. 5/4 The reform we seek to inaugurate is predicated upon the utmost care for established industries and enterprises.
1922 Times 20 May 8/2 Look at the results of Japan's Imperialistic policies as predicated on militarism.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Feb. 2/2 Mr. Diefenbaker said the federal Government had erred by predicating the conference on a bill of rights.
2001 C. Coker Humane Warfare i. 19 Humane wars are likewise predicated on the belief that martyrdom is illegitimate unless freely chosen.
Derivatives
ˈpredicated adj.
ΚΠ
1628 T. Spencer Art of Logick 19 In his doctrine of predicated arguments, hee speakes not a word of effects and subiects.
1639 T. Heywood True Relation 2 Most Famous Eng. Pyrats v. sig. Bv They boorded her without any great resistance; a sudden feare in the one, and a predicated resolution in the other, being greatly to their advantage.
1813 Times 17 July 2/4 The Earl of Liverpool, admitting the magnitude of the cause at issue, denied the predicated amplitude of our means.
1888 Mind 13 372 If there is a difference, then the subject is still beyond the predicated content.
1934 Electronics July 223/2 If the term ‘high-fidelity’ is to mean anything the predicated performance should be kept at a reasonably high level.
1991 Renaissance Stud. 5 408 In the introductory section of the Miroir three distinct spiritual states are described and come to coalesce in a single predicated subject je.
ˈpredicating adj.
ΚΠ
1647 Englands Mad Petition 2 It well appeares (Right Horrible) that betweene the Incubus and Succubus,..these Predicating Trades-men, and these dis-illuminating women were begotten.
1761 W. Dodd Conference 23 Are there no Deists or Unbelievers, prithee, within the Compass of their predicating Call?
1805 ‘E. de Acton’ Nuns of Desert I. 74 This predicating congress consisted of two elderly, and one young woman.
1886 Trans. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 1 43 The basis of the logical factitive is always a predicating judgment.
1916 L. Bloomfield in Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. 47 13 Our speech-feeling seems to distinguish quite clearly between predicating and non-predicating utterances.
1992 I. A. E. Cunningham Syntactic Anal. of Sea Island Creole 43 This adjectival construction has no copula, but, like all other non-copulative verbs, is the sole predicating element.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.c1450v.1552