LEMMA (lemmata)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: lemmata   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lemma mean? 

• LEMMA (noun)
  The noun LEMMA has 3 senses:

1. a subsidiary proposition that is assumed to be true in order to prove another proposition

2. the lower and stouter of the two glumes immediately enclosing the floret in most Gramineae

3. the heading that indicates the subject of an annotation or a literary composition or a dictionary entry

  Familiarity information: LEMMA used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LEMMA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A subsidiary proposition that is assumed to be true in order to prove another proposition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

The lower and stouter of the two glumes immediately enclosing the floret in most Gramineae

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

flowering glume; lemma

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

glume (small dry membranous bract found in inflorescences of Gramineae and Cyperaceae)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The heading that indicates the subject of an annotation or a literary composition or a dictionary entry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

head; header; heading (a line of text serving to indicate what the passage below it is about)