POSTULATE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does postulate mean? 

• POSTULATE (noun)
  The noun POSTULATE has 1 sense:

1. (logic) a proposition that is accepted as true in order to provide a basis for logical reasoning

  Familiarity information: POSTULATE used as a noun is very rare.

• POSTULATE (verb)
  The verb POSTULATE has 3 senses:

1. maintain or assert

2. take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom

3. require as useful, just, or proper

  Familiarity information: POSTULATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POSTULATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

posit; postulate

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

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

Domain category:

logic (the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference)

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

Bayes' postulate ((statistics) the difficulty of applying Bayes' theorem is that the probabilities of the different causes are seldom known, in which case it may be postulated that they are all equal (sometimes known as postulating the equidistribution of ignorance))

assumption; premise; premiss (a statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn)

Derivation:

postulate (take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom)

• POSTULATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they postulate    ... he / she / it postulates   
Past simple: postulated   
Past participle: postulated   
-ing form: postulating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Maintain or assert

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

contend; postulate

Context example:

He contended that Communism had no future

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

claim (assert or affirm strongly; state to be true or existing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

posit; postulate

Context example:

He posited three basic laws of nature

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

presuppose; suppose (take for granted or as a given; suppose beforehand)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "postulate"):

assert; insist (postulate positively and assertively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

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

postulation ((logic) a declaration of something self-evident; something that can be assumed as the basis for argument)

postulator (someone who assumes or takes something for granted as the basis of an argument)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Require as useful, just, or proper

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

ask; call for; demand; involve; necessitate; need; postulate; require; take

Context example:

This intervention does not postulate a patient's consent

Verb group:

claim; exact; take (take as an undesirable consequence of some event or state of affairs)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "postulate"):

claim; exact; take (take as an undesirable consequence of some event or state of affairs)

govern (require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood)

draw (require a specified depth for floating)

cost (require to lose, suffer, or sacrifice)

cry for; cry out for (need badly or desperately)

compel (necessitate or exact)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

This gene is postulated to play a role in cell adhesion, however this role has not been substantiated.

(CEACAM7 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

The gene is also postulated to be involved in the development of neural and lymphoid cells.

(LHX2 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene is postulated to play a role in the regulation of carbohydrate trafficking; however this role has not been substantiated.

(CD52 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Each finger is postulated to recognize a specific sequence of about five nucleotide pairs.

(C2H2 Zinc Finger, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene is involved in multi-drug resistance, antigen presentation and is postulated to play a role in mitochondrial function.

(ABCB6 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Therefore, it has been postulated that generating a greater volume of BAT, and increasing its activity, could be a potential strategy for combatting obesity and associated comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes.

(Increasing the level of physical activity is found not to improve the functioning of brown adipose tissue, University of Granada)

For decades it has been postulated these so-called permanently shadowed regions are so cold that any ice trapped within them can potentially survive for billions of years.

(The Moon and Mercury May Have Thick Ice Deposits, NASA)

Though the exact mechanism of action of methocarbamol was not established, it's postulated to be via a mechanism similar of carbamate, inhibition of acetylcholinesterase at synapses in the autonomic nervous system, neuromuscular junction, and central nervous system.

(Methocarbamol, NCI Thesaurus)

In addition, it has been postulated that EGCG may trap growth factors such platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) on cell membranes, immobilizing growth factors on cell membranes and preventing ligand-receptor crosslinking and growth factor receptor activation.

(Defined Green Tea Catechin Extract, NCI Thesaurus)

The authors postulate that frontal entrainment may be stronger in the fluent signers because they are more able to predict the movements involved and therefore more able to predict and entrain to the rhythms they see.

(The Rhythms of Sign Language, NSF)