PROPOSITION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does proposition mean? 

• PROPOSITION (noun)
  The noun PROPOSITION has 5 senses:

1. (logic) a statement that affirms or denies something and is either true or false

2. a proposal offered for acceptance or rejection

3. an offer for a private bargain (especially a request for sexual favors)

4. the act of making a proposal

5. a task to be dealt with

  Familiarity information: PROPOSITION used as a noun is common.

• PROPOSITION (verb)
  The verb PROPOSITION has 1 sense:

1. suggest sex to

  Familiarity information: PROPOSITION used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROPOSITION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(logic) a statement that affirms or denies something and is either true or false

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("proposition" is a kind of...):

statement (a message that is stated or declared; a communication (oral or written) setting forth particulars or facts etc)

Meronyms (parts of "proposition"):

term (one of the substantive phrases in a logical proposition)

Domain category:

logic (the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "proposition"):

particular; particular proposition ((logic) a proposition that asserts something about some (but not all) members of a class)

universal; universal proposition ((logic) a proposition that asserts something of all members of a class)

negation ((logic) a proposition that is true if and only if another proposition is false)

converse (a proposition obtained by conversion)

lemma (a subsidiary proposition that is assumed to be true in order to prove another proposition)

theorem (a proposition deducible from basic postulates)

conclusion; ratiocination (the proposition arrived at by logical reasoning (such as the proposition that must follow from the major and minor premises of a syllogism))

posit; postulate ((logic) a proposition that is accepted as true in order to provide a basis for logical reasoning)

axiom ((logic) a proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof; its truth is assumed to be self-evident)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A proposal offered for acceptance or rejection

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

proffer; proposition; suggestion

Context example:

it was a suggestion we couldn't refuse

Hypernyms ("proposition" is a kind of...):

proposal (something proposed (such as a plan or assumption))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "proposition"):

breath; hint; intimation (an indirect suggestion)

ghost; touch; trace (a suggestion of some quality)

advance; approach; feeler; overture (a tentative suggestion designed to elicit the reactions of others)

Derivation:

propose (present for consideration, examination, criticism, etc.)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An offer for a private bargain (especially a request for sexual favors)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("proposition" is a kind of...):

offer; offering (something offered (as a proposal or bid))

Derivation:

proposition (suggest sex to)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of making a proposal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

proposal; proposition

Context example:

they listened to her proposal

Hypernyms ("proposition" is a kind of...):

speech act (the use of language to perform some act)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "proposition"):

presentation (the act of presenting a proposal)

Derivation:

propose (make a proposal, declare a plan for something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A task to be dealt with

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

securing adequate funding is a time-consuming proposition

Hypernyms ("proposition" is a kind of...):

labor; project; task; undertaking (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)

• PROPOSITION (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they proposition    ... he / she / it propositions   
Past simple: propositioned   
Past participle: propositioned   
-ing form: propositioning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suggest sex to

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

She was propositioned by a stranger at the party

Hypernyms (to "proposition" is one way to...):

advise; propose; suggest (make a proposal, declare a plan for something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

proposition (an offer for a private bargain (especially a request for sexual favors))

 Context examples 

As the wafer digested, the tincture mounted to his brain, bearing the proposition along with it.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

This was a different proposition from crouching in frozen fear while the unknown lurked just alongside.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I'd like to take you up on the proposition.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

If a clerk wanted his salary raised, Mr. Jorkins wouldn't listen to such a proposition.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I have a counter proposition to make, and for the good of your soul.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The proposition pleased the two others, and they set out on their way together.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“This is a serious proposition,” said he.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Never had he heard such jargon of scholastic philosophy, such fine-drawn distinctions, such cross-fire of major and minor, proposition, syllogism, attack and refutation.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A pregnancy at an older age is a costly proposition for the mother, whose body has to decide how nutrients are shared with the fetus.

(Placenta changes could mean male offspring of older mums more likely to develop heart problems in later life, University of Cambridge)

But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his proposition.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)