predicate

Noun

predicate (plural predicates)

1. The part of the sentence (or clause) which states a property that a subject has or is characterized by.
   • 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...1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 438
   • 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...1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 323
2. 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.
3. An operator, expression, or function that returns either true or false.
   • Predicates are usually found in a query's WHERE or HAVING clauses, though they can be located elsewhere (e.g. in CASE expressions).2000, Ken Henderson, The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page 128

Adjective

predicate (comparative more predicate, superlative most predicate)

1. Of or related to the predicate of a sentence or clause.
2. Predicated, stated.
3. Relating to or being any of a series of criminal acts upon which prosecution for racketeering may be predicated.

Verb

IPA/ˈpɹɛdɪˌkeɪt/

predicate (third-person singular simple present predicates, present participle predicating, simple past and past participle predicated)

1. (transitive) To announce, assert, or proclaim publicly.
2. (transitive) To assume or suppose; to infer.
   • 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.1859, Charles Dickens, “The Wine-shop”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book I (Recalled to Life), page 21
   • 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.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...
3. (transitive) To base (on); to assert on the grounds of.
   • The law is what constitutes both desire and the lack on which it is predicated.1978, Michel Foucault, The Will to Knowledge, trans. Robert Hurley (Penguin 1998, page 81)
   • 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.2022 February 2, Jody Rosen, “Why Is Matt Damon Shilling for Crypto?”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
4. (transitive) To make a term (or expression) the predicate of a statement.
5. (transitive) To assert or state as an attribute or quality of something.
   • This quality becomes real as a mental concept when it is predicated of all the objects possessing it (“quod de pluribus natum est praedicari”).1911, Encyclopedia Britannica, Conceptualism