diallels

Noun

diallel (plural diallels)

1. A set of all possible pairs of items from a specified set of items, especially when used for a study of diallel crosses.
   • Pollinations in 1956 and 1957 produced seed for eight replications of all 78 combinations of a complete half diallel, excluding selfs.1978, E. B. Snyder, Gene Namkoong, Inheritance in a Diallel Crossing Experiment with Longleaf Pine, page 2
2. A form of logical fallacy in which a proposition that is required to prove another proposition can only be proved by means of assuming the truth of the proposition one is trying to prove; circular reasoning.
   • Fifth is the diallel (ó διάλληλος τρóπος)—petitio principii—the fallacy of circle, or the method of showing that a proof which is employed to establish the truth of a proposition, can itself only be proved by the proposition in question: as for example, "if anyone should infer the authenticity of a...1871, Thomas Woodhouse Levin, Six Lectures Introductory to the Philosophical Writings of Cicero, page 110

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