Word of the Day

: March 14, 2010

postulate

verb PAHSS-chuh-layt

What It Means

1 : demand, claim

2 a : to assume or claim as true, existent, or necessary

b : to assume as an established truth (as in logic or mathematics)

postulate in Context

"If we postulate that the doors were all securely guarded," said the detective, "then the perpetrator must have been somebody who was already in the building."

Did You Know?

In 1703, the dedication of the City and County Purchaser and Builders Dictionary included the following words: "These your extraordinary Favours … seem to Postulate from me … a Publick Recognition." That's also how the verb "postulate" was used when English speakers first began using it back in the late 1500s, as a synonym of "require" or "demand." (The word's Latin grandparent, "postulare," has the same meaning.) "Postulate" was also used as a noun in the late 1500s, with the meaning "demand" or "stipulation." That sense is now considered archaic, but we still use the noun "postulate." Today, it usually means "a hypothesis advanced as an essential presupposition, condition, or premise of a train of reasoning."