proposition

See also: Proposition

English

Etymology

From Middle English proposicioun, from Old French proposicion, from Latin prōpositiō, from the verb prōponō.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: präp'ə-zĭshʹən IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃən
• Hyphenation: prop‧o‧si‧tion

Noun

proposition (countable and uncountable, plural propositions)

1. (uncountable) The act of offering (an idea) for consideration.
2. (countable) An idea or a plan offered.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

3. (countable, business settings) The terms of a transaction offered.
4. (countable, US, politics) In some states, a proposed statute or constitutional amendment to be voted on by the electorate.
5. (grammar) A complete sentence.
   • c. 1888, The Popular Educator: a Complete Encyclopaedia of Elementary, Advanced, and Technical Education. New and Revised Edition. Volume I., page 98:

     Our English nouns remain unchanged, whether they form the subject or the object of a proposition.

6. (countable, logic) The content of an assertion that may be taken as being true or false and is considered abstractly without reference to the linguistic sentence that constitutes the assertion; (Aristotelian logic) a predicate of a subject that is denied or affirmed and connected by a copula.

   “Wiktionary is a good dictionary” is a proposition.

7. (countable, mathematics) An assertion so formulated that it can be considered true or false.
8. (countable, mathematics) An assertion which is provably true, but not important enough to be called a theorem.
9. A statement of religious doctrine; an article of faith; creed.

   the propositions of Wyclif and Huss

   • 1668, Jeremy Taylor, “Twenty-seven Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, […]: Sermon XXI. [Of Christian Prudence.] Part II.”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume VI, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 113:

     There are some persons, whose religion is hugely disgraced, because they change their propositions, according as their temporal necessities or advantages do return.

10. (poetic) The part of a poem in which the author states the subject or matter of it.
11. Misspelling of preposition.

Synonyms

• (act of offering an idea for consideration): proposal, suggestion
• (idea or plan offered): proposal, suggestion
• (terms offered): proposal
• (content of an assertion): statement
• (proposed statute or constitutional amendment):

Derived terms

• categorical proposition
• discretive proposition
• discretive proposition
• metaproposition
• propositional
• proposition bet
• proposition nation
• proposition player
• Pythagorean proposition
• value proposition
• value proposition canvas

 

Translations

uncountable: act of offering for consideration

• Belarusian: прапано́ва f (prapanóva)
• Bulgarian: предложе́ние (bg) n (predložénie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 建議 / 建议 (zh) (jiànyì), 提議 / 提议 (zh) (tíyì), 提案 (zh) (tí'àn)

• Czech: navrhování n
• Finnish: esitys (fi), ehdotus (fi)
• Galician: proposición (gl) f
• Greek: πρόταση (el) f (prótasi), θέση (el) f (thési)

  Ancient: πρότασις f (prótasis)

• Italian: proposta (it) f
• Japanese: 提案 (ja) (ていあん, teian), 提議 (ja) (ていぎ, teigi)
• Korean: 제안(提案) (ko) (jean)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forslag

• Polish: propozycja (pl) f
• Portuguese: proposição (pt) f, proposta (pt) f
• Romanian: afirmație (ro) f, declarație (ro)
• Russian: предложе́ние (ru) n (predložénije), утвержде́ние (ru) n (utverždénije)
• Spanish: propuesta (es) f
• Ukrainian: пропози́ція (uk) f (propozýcija)
• Vietnamese: kiến nghị (vi), đề án (vi), đề nghị (vi)

idea or plan offered

• Arabic: اِقْتِرَاح m (iqtirāḥ), مُقْتَرَح m (muqtaraḥ)
• Belarusian: прапано́ва f (prapanóva)
• Bulgarian: предложе́ние (bg) n (predložénie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 建議 / 建议 (zh) (jiànyì), 提議 / 提议 (zh) (tíyì), 提案 (zh) (tí'àn)

• Czech: návrh (cs) m
• Danish: forslag (da) n
• Dutch: propositie (nl), voorstel (nl) n
• Finnish: esitys (fi), ehdotus (fi)
• French: proposition (fr) f
• Galician: proposición (gl) f
• Greek: πρόταση (el) f (prótasi)
• Ido: propoziciono (io), propozajo (io)
• Italian: proposizione (it) f
• Japanese: 提案 (ja) (ていあん, teian)
• Korean: 제안 (ko) (jean)
• Macedonian: предлог m (predlog)
• Norman: proposition f
• Old English: fōresetnes f
• Plautdietsch: Väaschlach m
• Polish: propozycja (pl) f
• Portuguese: proposição (pt) f, proposta (pt) f
• Romanian: propunere (ro) f, sugestie (ro) f
• Russian: предложе́ние (ru) n (predložénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: предлог m, приједлог m

  Roman: predlog m, prijedlog (sh) m

• Slovak: návrh (sk) m
• Slovene: predlog (sl) m
• Spanish: proposición (es) f
• Swedish: förslag (sv) n
• Ukrainian: пропози́ція (uk) f (propozýcija)
• Vietnamese: kiến nghị (vi), đề nghị (vi)

terms of a transaction offered

• Czech: nabídka (cs) f
• Finnish: tarjous (fi)
• Ido: propoziciono (io), propozajo (io)
• Italian: proposizione (it) f, proposta (it) f
• Spanish: proposición (es) f

in the US: proposed statute or constitutional amendment

• Russian: проект (ru) (projekt)

the abstract contents of a statement, without reference to its formulation

• Arabic: قَضِيَّة (ar) f (qaḍiyya)
• Greek: δήλωση (el) f (dílosi)
• Hindi: प्रतिज्ञप्ति (pratijñapti), तर्कवाक्य (tarkavākya)

math: assertion which can be considered true or false

• Finnish: väite (fi)
• Greek: πρόταση (el) f (prótasi)
• Japanese: 命題 (ja) (めいだい, meidai)
• Polish: zdanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: proposição (pt) f
• Russian: заявле́ние (ru) n (zajavlénije)
• Spanish: proposición (es) f
• Tagalog: palagay

an assertion which is provably true, but not important enough to be a theorem

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 命題 / 命题 (zh) (mìngtí)

• Czech: věta (cs) f
• Hebrew: טענה f (ta'aná)
• Icelandic: fullyrðing f, yrðing f
• Italian: proposizione logica f
• Japanese: 命題 (ja) (めいだい, meidai)
• Korean: 명제 (ko) (myeongje)
• Polish: stwierdzenie (pl) n
• Russian: утвержде́ние (ru) n (utverždénije)
• Tagalog: palagay
• Vietnamese: mệnh đề (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "in logic"

• Czech: výrok (cs) m
• Danish: dom (da) c
• Dutch: propositie (nl)
• Estonian: propositsioon
• Finnish: propositio (fi)
• French: proposition (fr) f
• German: Satz (de) m
• Hungarian: állítás (hu)
• Icelandic: fullyrðing f, yrðing f
• Ido: propoziciono (io)
• Italian: proposizione (it) f
• Japanese: 命題 (ja) (めいだい, meidai)
• Norman: proposition f
• Korean: 명제 (ko) (myeongje)
• Spanish: proposición (es) f

Verb

proposition (third-person singular simple present propositions, present participle propositioning, simple past and past participle propositioned)

1. (transitive, informal) To make a suggestion of sexual intercourse to (someone with whom one is not sexually involved).

   Synonyms: pass, come on, hit on

2. (transitive, informal) To make an offer or suggestion to (someone).
   • 1984 April 7, anonymous author, “Isolate and Conquer”, in Gay Community News, page 12:

     The Superintendent of the facility tried to proposition with me that if I snitched to the guards and would work with him, then he would put my friend and me back together again.

Synonyms

• make a pass

Related terms

• propose

Translations

make a suggestion of sexual intercourse

• Finnish: ehdottaa (fi)

make an offer or suggestion

• Finnish: ehdottaa (fi)
• Latin: prōpositō

Anagrams

• opistoporin

Finnish

Noun

proposition

1. genitive singular of propositio

French

Etymology

From Latin prōpositiōnem (“statement, proposition”), from prōpōnō (“propose”), from pōnō (“place; assume”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.po.zi.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Homophone: propositions

Noun

proposition f (plural propositions)

1. proposition, suggestion
2. (grammar) proposition
3. (grammar) clause

Further reading

• “proposition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Noun

proposition

1. Alternative form of proposicioun

Norman

Etymology

From Latin prōpositiō, prōpositiōnem.

Noun

proposition f (plural propositions)

1. (Jersey) proposition
2. (Jersey, grammar) clause

Derived terms

• proposition prîncipale (“main clause”)
• proposition s'gondaithe (“subordinate clause”)

Swedish

Noun

proposition c

1. a proposition, a government bill (draft of a law, proposed by the government)

Usage notes

• bills introduced by members of parliament are called motion

Declension

Declension of proposition

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	proposition	propositions
	definite	propositionen	propositionens
plural	indefinite	propositioner	propositioners
	definite	propositionerna	propositionernas

Related terms

• budgetproposition
• forskningsproposition
• försvarsproposition
• kompletteringsproposition
• kulturproposition
• propositionell
• statsverksproposition