Postulate

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Postulate \Pos"tu*late\, a.
     Postulated. [Obs.] --Hudibras.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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