postulate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (logic) a proposition that is accepted as true in order to provide a basis for logical reasoning
    posit.
  2. verb maintain or assert
    contend.
    • He contended that Communism had no future
  3. verb take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom
    posit.
    • He posited three basic laws of nature
  4. verb require as useful, just, or proper
    call for; require; necessitate; involve; need; take; demand; ask.
    • It takes nerve to do what she did
    • success usually requires hard work
    • This job asks a lot of patience and skill
    • This position demands a lot of personal sacrifice
    • This dinner calls for a spectacular dessert
    • This intervention does not postulate a patient's consent

WordNet

Pos"tu*late noun
Etymology
L. postulatum a demand, request, prop. p. p. of postulare to demand, prob. a dim. of poscere to demand, prob. for porcscere; akin to G. forschen to search, investigate, Skr. prach to ask, and L. precari to pray: cf. F. postulat. See Pray.
Definitions
  1. Something demanded or asserted; especially, a position or supposition assumed without proof, or one which is considered as self-evident; a truth to which assent may be demanded or challenged, without argument or evidence.
  2. (Geom.) The enunciation of a self-evident problem, in distinction from an axiom, which is the enunciation of a self-evident theorem.
    The distinction between a postulate and an axiom lies in this, -- that the latter is admitted to be self-evident, while the former may be agreed upon between two reasoners, and admitted by both, but not as proposition which it would be impossible to deny. Eng. Cyc.
Pos"tu*late adjective
Definitions
  1. Postulated. Obs. Hudibras.
Pos"tu*late transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Postulated ; present participle & verbal noun Postulating
Definitions
  1. To beg, or assume without proof; as, to postulate conclusions.
  2. To take without express consent; to assume.
    The Byzantine emperors appear to have . . . postulated a sort of paramount supremacy over this nation. W. Tooke.
  3. To invite earnestly; to solicit. Obs. Bp. Burnet.

Webster 1913