Library / English Dictionary

PROPOSITION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A task to be dealt with

Example:

securing adequate funding is a time-consuming proposition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

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

Sense 2

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 3

Meaning:

The act of making a proposal

Example:

they listened to her proposal

Synonyms:

proposal; proposition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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 4

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 5

Meaning:

A proposal offered for acceptance or rejection

Example:

it was a suggestion we couldn't refuse

Synonyms:

proffer; proposition; suggestion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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.)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suggest sex to

Example:

She was propositioned by a stranger at the party

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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))

Credits

 Context examples: 

His first proposition and request, that the dance begun at Mr. Cole's should be finished there—that the same party should be collected, and the same musician engaged, met with the readiest acquiescence.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

You had, as I have been led to believe, some comments to make upon the proposition which I advanced in my thesis.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Palmer maintained the common, but unfatherly opinion among his sex, of all infants being alike; and though she could plainly perceive, at different times, the most striking resemblance between this baby and every one of his relations on both sides, there was no convincing his father of it; no persuading him to believe that it was not exactly like every other baby of the same age; nor could he even be brought to acknowledge the simple proposition of its being the finest child in the world.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Her next proposition, of shewing the house to such of them as had not been there before, was more acceptable, for Miss Bertram was pleased to have its size displayed, and all were glad to be doing something.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

As the President finished reading the paper (which I beg leave to assure my readers is a bona fide copy of one written by bona fide girls once upon a time), a round of applause followed, and then Mr. Snodgrass rose to make a proposition.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

An act or process of elucidation; explication, or explanation of the meaning of the event or thing via the assignment of objects from the domain to the constants of a formal language, truth-values to the proposition symbols, truth-functions to the connectives, other functions to the function symbols, and extensions to the predicates, if any.

(Interpretation, NCI Thesaurus)

The question was answered for him, and so oppressed was he by the grayness of life that he forgot the tentative proposition she had made for him to go to work.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Well, mister, it is a business proposition.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The proposition, and demonstration, were fairly written on a thin wafer, with ink composed of a cephalic tincture.

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