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English
Alternative forms
Etymology 1
From Middle English predicat(e), from Old French predicat (French prédicat), from Medieval Latin praedicātum (“thing said of a subject, predicate”), substantivized from the nominative neuter singular of praedicātus, the perfect passive participle praedicō (“to proclaim”), see -ate (noun-forming suffix); see also Etymology 2 below.
The adjective was derived from the noun by metanalysis, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
Pronunciation
Noun
| Examples (grammar)
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- The dog barked very loudly.
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predicate (plural predicates)
- (grammar) The part of the sentence (or clause) which states a property that a subject has or is characterized by.
- Coordinate term: subject
1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 438:In the light of this observation, consider Number Agreement in a sentence like:
(120) They seem to me [S — to be fools/✽a fool]
Here, the Predicate Nominal fools agrees with the italicised NP they, in spite of the fact that (as we argued earlier) the two are contained in different Clauses at S-structure. How can this be? Under the NP MOVEMENT analysis of seem structures, sentences like (120) pose no problem; if we suppose that they originates in the — position as the subordinate Clause Subject, then we can say that the Predicate Nominal agrees with the underlying Subject of its Clause. How does they get from its underlying position as subordinate Clause Subject to its superficial position as main Clause Subject? By NP MOVEMENT, of course!
1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 323:Thus, in (121) (a) persuade is clearly a three-place Predicate — that is, a Predicate which takes three Arguments: the first of these Arguments is the Subject NP John, the second is the Primary Object NP Mary, and the third is the Secondary Object S-bar [that she should resign]. By contrast, believe in (121) (b) is clearly a two-place Predicate (i.e. a Predicate which has two Arguments): its first Argument is the Subject NP John, and its second Argument is the Object S-bar [that Mary was innocent].
- (logic) A term of a statement, where the statement may be true or false depending on whether the thing referred to by the values of the statement's variables has the property signified by that (predicative) term.
A propositional variable may be treated as a nullary predicate. A predicate is either valid, satisfiable, or unsatisfiable.
- (programming) An operator, expression, or function that returns either true or false.
2000, Ken Henderson, The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page 128:Predicates are usually found in a query's WHERE or HAVING clauses, though they can be located elsewhere (e.g. in CASE expressions).
Derived terms
Translations
grammar: part of sentence that states something about its subject
- Albanian: kallëzues (sq) m
- Altai:
- Southern Altai: айдылаачы (aydïlaačï)
- Arabic: خَبَر m (ḵabar)
- Armenian: ստորոգյալ (hy) (storogyal)
- Azerbaijani: xəbər (az)
- Belarusian: выка́знік m (vykáznik), прэдыка́т m (predykát)
- Bengali: বিধেয় (bn) (bidheẏo)
- Bulgarian: сказу́емо (bg) n (skazúemo), предика́т (bg) m (predikát)
- Burmese: ဝါစက (my) (waca.ka.)
- Buryat: хэлэгшэ (xelegše)
- Catalan: predicat (ca)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 謂語 / 谓语 (wai6 jyu5), 述語 / 述语 (seot6 jyu5)
- Mandarin: 謂語 / 谓语 (zh) (wèiyǔ), 述語 / 述语 (zh) (shùyǔ)
- Czech: přísudek (cs) m
- Danish: prædikat n
- Dutch: gezegde (nl) n, predicaat (nl) n
- Esperanto: predikato (eo)
- Estonian: öeldis (et)
- Finnish: predikaatti (fi); predikaattiosa, maine (fi)
- French: prédicat (fr) m
- Galician: predicado
- Georgian: შემასმენელი (šemasmeneli), პრედიკატი (ṗrediḳaṭi)
- German: Prädikat (de) n, Satzaussage (de) f
- Greek: κατηγόρημα (el) n (katigórima)
- Hebrew: נָשׂוּא (he) m (nasú)
- Hindi: विधेय (hi) m (vidhey)
- Hungarian: állítmány (hu), régens (hu), predikátum (hu)
- Icelandic: umsögn f, umsagnarliður m
- Ido: predikato (io) m
- Indonesian: predikat (id)
- Interlingua: predicato
- Irish: faisnéis f
- Italian: predicato (it) m
- Japanese: 述語 (ja) (じゅつご, jutsugo)
- Kalmyk: келгч (kelgç)
- Kazakh: баяндауыш (bayandawıš)
- Khmer: វិកតិកម្ម (vikaʼtekam)
- Korean: 술어(述語) (ko) (sureo)
- Kyrgyz: баяндооч (ky) (bayandooc)
- Lao: ກິລິຍາ (ki li nyā)
- Latin: praedicātum (la) m, attribūtum n
- Latvian: izteicējs (lv) m
- Lithuanian: tarinys m
- Macedonian: при́рок m (prírok)
- Malay: predikat
- Māori: paparangi
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: өгүүлэхүүн (mn) (ögüülexüün)
- Mongolian script: ᠥᠭᠦᠯᠡᠬᠦᠨ (ögülekün)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: predikat n
- Persian:
- Iranian Persian: گُزارِه (gozâre), مَسْنَد (masnad), خَبَر (xabar)
- Polish: orzeczenie (pl) n, predykat (pl) m
- Portuguese: predicado (pt) m
- Romanian: predicat (ro) n
- Russian: сказу́емое (ru) n (skazújemoje), предика́т (ru) m (predikát)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: предѝка̄т m, при́рок m
- Latin: predìkāt (sh) m, prírok (sh) m
- Slovak: prísudok m
- Slovene: povedek (sl) m
- Spanish: predicado (es) m
- Swahili: kiarifa
- Swedish: predikat (sv) n
- Tagalog: panaguri (tl)
- Tajik: хабар (tg) (xabar), предикат (predikat), (please verify) мустанад (tg) (mustanad)
- Tamil: பயனிலை (ta) (payaṉilai)
- Thai: ภาคแสดง (pâak-sà-dɛɛng), กริยา (th) (grì-yaa) (verb)
- Turkish: yüklem (tr), haber (tr), müsnet (tr)
- Ottoman Turkish: خبر (haber)
- Ukrainian: прису́док (uk) m (prysúdok), предика́т (uk) m (predykát)
- Urdu: مسند (masnad)
- Uyghur: خەۋەر (xewer)
- Uzbek: kesim (uz)
- Vietnamese: thuộc từ, vị ngữ (vi) (謂語)
- Welsh: traethiad m
- Yiddish: פּרעדיקאַט m (predikat)
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logic: a term of a statement, where the statement may be true or false
- Bulgarian: твърде́ние (bg) n (tvărdénie), предика́т (bg) m (predikát)
- Czech: predikát (cs) m
- Dutch: predicaat (nl) n
- Esperanto: predikato (eo)
- Finnish: predikaatti (fi)
- French: prédicat (fr) m
- Galician: predicado
- German: Prädikat (de) n
- Greek: κατηγόρημα (el) n (katigórima)
- Hebrew: פרדיקט m, פדיקט m (predikat)
- Hungarian: predikátum (hu), állítás (hu)
- Icelandic: umsagnarökfræði f
- Japanese: 述語 (ja) (じゅつご, jutsugo), 述辞 (じゅつじ, jutsuji)
- Persian:
- Iranian Persian: مَحْمول (mahmul)
- Polish: predykat (pl) m, funkcja zdaniowa f
- Portuguese: predicado (pt) m
- Romanian: predicat (ro) n
- Russian: утвержде́ние (ru) n (utverždénije), предика́т (ru) m (predikát)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: предѝка̄т m
- Latin: predìkāt (sh) m
- Slovak: predikát m
- Spanish: predicado (es) m
- Swedish: predikat (sv) n
- Turkish: yüklem (tr), mahmul (tr)
- Ukrainian: тве́рдження n (tvérdžennja), предика́т (uk) m (predykát)
- Yiddish: פּרעדיקאַט m (predikat)
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computing: an operator or function that returns either true or false Adjective
predicate (comparative more predicate, superlative most predicate)
- (grammar) Of or related to the predicate of a sentence or clause.
- Predicated, stated.
- (law) Relating to or being any of a series of criminal acts upon which prosecution for racketeering may be predicated.
Derived terms
Translations
grammar: of or related to the predicate of a sentence or clause law: relating to or being any of a series of criminal acts upon which prosecution for racketeering may be predicated Etymology 2
From Latin praedicātus, perfect passive participle of praedicō (“to publish, declare, proclaim”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from prae- (“before”) + dicō (“to proclaim, dedicate”), related to dīcō (“to say, tell”). Doublet of preach.
Pronunciation
Verb
predicate (third-person singular simple present predicates, present participle predicating, simple past and past participle predicated)
- (transitive) To announce, assert, or proclaim publicly.
- (transitive) To assume or suppose; to infer.
1859, Charles Dickens, “The Wine-shop”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book I (Recalled to Life), page 21:There was a character about Madame Defarge, from which one might have predicated that she did not often make mistakes against herself in any of the reckonings over which she presided.
1880–1881, Thomas Hardy, chapter II, in A Laodicean; or, The Castle of the De Stancys. A Story of To-day. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], published 1881, →OCLC, book the third (De Stancy), page 59:Of anyone else it would have been said that she was finding the afternoon rather dreary in the vast halls not of her forefathers: but of Miss Power it was unsafe to predicate so surely.
- (transitive, originally US) To base (on); to assert on the grounds of.
- 1978, Michel Foucault, The Will to Knowledge, trans. Robert Hurley (Penguin 1998, page 81):
- The law is what constitutes both desire and the lack on which it is predicated.
2022 February 2, Jody Rosen, “Why Is Matt Damon Shilling for Crypto?”, in The New York Times Magazine[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 November 2025:Cryptocurrencies, after all, are in many cases not so much currencies as speculative thingamabobs — digital tokens whose value is predicated largely on the idea that someone will take them off your hands at a higher price than it cost you to acquire them.
- (transitive, grammar) To make a term (or expression) the predicate of a statement.
- (transitive, logic) To assert or state as an attribute or quality of something.
- 1911, Encyclopedia Britannica, Conceptualism
- This quality becomes real as a mental concept when it is predicated of all the objects possessing it (“quod de pluribus natum est praedicari”).
Derived terms
Translations
to announce or assert publicly to assume or suppose; to infer to base on, to assert on the grounds of to make a term (or expression) the predicate of a statement logic: to assert or state as an attribute or quality of something Further reading
- “predicate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “predicate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- “predicate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
Ido
Pronunciation
Verb
predicate
- adverbial present passive participle of predicar
Italian
Etymology 1
Verb
predicate
- inflection of predicare:
- second-person plural present indicative
- second-person plural imperative
Etymology 2
Participle
predicate f pl
- feminine plural of predicato
Anagrams
Spanish
Verb
predicate
- second-person singular voseo imperative of predicar combined with te
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