Postulate \Pos"tu*late\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Postulated; p.
pr. & vb. n. Postulating.]
1. To beg, or assume without proof; as, to postulate
conclusions.
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2. To take without express consent; to assume.
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The Byzantine emperors appear to have . . .
postulated a sort of paramount supremacy over this
nation. --W. Tooke.
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3. To invite earnestly; to solicit. [Obs.] --Bp. Burnet.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Postulate \Pos"tu*late\, a.
Postulated. [Obs.] --Hudibras.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Postulate \Pos"tu*late\, n. [L. postulatum a demand, request,
prop. p. p. of postulare to demand, prob. a dim. of poscere
to demand, prob. for porcscere; akin to G. forschen to
search, investigate, Skr. prach to ask, and L. precari to
pray: cf. F. postulat. See Pray.]
1. Something demanded or asserted; especially, a position or
supposition assumed without proof, or one which is
considered as self-evident; a truth to which assent may be
demanded or challenged, without argument or evidence.
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2. (Geom.) The enunciation of a self-evident problem, in
distinction from an axiom, which is the enunciation of a
self-evident theorem.
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The distinction between a postulate and an axiom
lies in this, -- that the latter is admitted to be
self-evident, while the former may be agreed upon
between two reasoners, and admitted by both, but not
as proposition which it would be impossible to deny.
--Eng. Cyc.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
postulate
n : (logic) a proposition that is accepted as true in order to
provide a basis for logical reasoning [syn: posit]
v 1: maintain or assert; "He contended that Communism had no
future" [syn: contend]
2: take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom; "He posited
three basic laws of nature" [syn: posit]
3: require as useful, just, or proper; "It takes nerve to do
what she did"; "success usually requires hard work"; "This
job asks a lot of patience and skill"; "This position
demands a lot of personal sacrifice"; "This dinner calls
for a spectacular dessert"; "This intervention does not
postulates a patient's consent" [syn: necessitate, ask,
need, require, take, involve, call for, demand]
[ant: obviate]
WordNet (r) 2.0
191 Moby Thesaurus words for "postulate":
a priori principle, a priori truth, absolute fact, accepted fact,
actual fact, admitted fact, advance, affirm, affirmation,
apriorism, assert, assertion, assume, assumed position, assumption,
avant-propos, aver, axiom, bald fact, bare fact, basis,
breakthrough, bring before, bring forward, bring up, broach,
brocard, brutal fact, call, categorical proposition, center,
challenge, circumstance, claim, cold fact, commend to attention,
conceded fact, conjecture, core, data, datum, demonstrable fact,
dictate, dictum, elixir, empirical fact, essence, essential,
established fact, exact, exordium, fact, fact of experience,
first principles, flower, focus, foreword, formula, foundation,
front matter, frontispiece, fundamental, gist, given fact,
golden rule, gravamen, ground, guesswork, hard fact, heart,
hypostasis, hypothesis, hypothesis ad hoc, indisputable fact,
inescapable fact, inference, inner essence, innovation, introduce,
introduction, kernel, launch, law, lay before, lay down, leap,
lemma, major premise, make a motion, marrow, matter of fact, meat,
minor premise, moot, move, naked fact, not guesswork, not opinion,
nub, nucleus, nuts and bolts, offer a resolution, open up,
overture, philosopheme, philosophical proposition, pith, plain,
pose, posit, position, positive fact, postulation, postulatum,
preamble, predicate, preface, prefer, prefix, prefixture,
preliminary, prelude, premise, presume, presumption, presupposal,
presupposition, principium, principle, proem, prolegomena,
prolegomenon, prolepsis, prologue, propose, proposition,
propositional function, propound, protasis, provable fact,
put forth, put forward, put it to, quid, quiddity, quintessence,
recommend, require, requisition, rule, salient fact, sap,
self-evident fact, self-evident truth, set before, set forth,
set of postulates, settled principle, significant fact,
simple fact, sober fact, solicit, soul, spirit, start, statement,
stubborn fact, stuff, submit, substance, suggest, sumption,
supposal, supposing, supposition, surmise, the case,
the nitty-gritty, theorem, thesis, truism, truth, truth table,
truth-function, truth-value, undeniable fact, universal truth,
verse, voluntary, well-known fact, working hypothesis
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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