Premise

Research

A statement assumed true that an argument builds on; a "sound" argument is logically valid AND has true premises.

Sources

1. Merriam-Webster — premise merriam-webster.com accessed 23 September 2026

Merriam-Webster: “a proposition supposed or proved prior as a basis of argument or inference; specifically: either of the first two propositions of a syllogism from which the conclusion is drawn”, and more loosely “something assumed or taken for granted: presupposition”. From Latin praemittere, to place ahead, through Anglo-French and Medieval Latin; first recorded in the fourteenth century. The second sense is the one that matters in reviewing an argument — an unstated premise is still a premise.

Merriam-Webster is cited as the dictionary of record: where an entry defines a word rather than a position, a dictionary is the primary source for it. The research usage described above is this lexicon’s own reading.

Related terms

• Abbreviation
• Abstract
• Abstraction
• Academic Database
• Analysis
• Annotation

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).