predicates

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
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.
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

See all 11 meanings of predicate