Word.ws English Dictionary

proposition

Syllables: prop·o·si·tion/ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/

proposition noun: the act of offering (an idea) for consideration. Also the misspelling of preposition.

Noun

proposition (countable and uncountable, plural propositions)

  1. (uncountable) The act of offering (an idea) for consideration.
    Synonyms:
    proposal, suggestion
  2. (countable) An idea, plan, or suggestion offered.
    • The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
    • And it would be a fine proposition
      If I was a stupid girl
      But honey, I am no one's exception
      This I have previously learned2012, Taylor Swift, “Girl at Home”, in Red, performed by Taylor Swift
    1. (informal) A suggestion of sexual intercourse (made to someone with whom one is not sexually involved).
      • Quinn looked into the intersection. Tonya was standing in the middle of it, stance wide, taser in both hands, Quinn's rickshaw on the sidewalk behind her.
        "Ow," said Quinn, and it came out just shy of a proposition.2023 June 25, HarryBlank, “Transposthumousism”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 31 Dec 2024
  3. (countable, business settings) The terms of a transaction offered.
    Synonyms:
    proposal
  4. (US, countable) In some states, a proposed statute or constitutional amendment to be voted on by the electorate.
    • In November, though, voters will be faced with proposition one. It's a citizen's initiative that will do two things. If passed, it would open up all primaries in Idaho, and it would create a new voting system known as ranked choice voting.2024 October 15, Samantha Wright, “Idaho Elections: How Prop 1 might change our voting system”, in Boise State Public Radio
  5. A complete sentence.
    • Our English nouns remain unchanged, whether they form the subject or the object of a proposition.c. 1888, The Popular Educator: a Complete Encyclopaedia of Elementary, Advanced, and Technical Education. New and Revised Edition. Volume I., page 98
  6. (countable) The content of an assertion that may be taken as being true or false and is considered abstractly without reference to the linguistic sentence that constitutes the assertion; (Aristotelian logic) a predicate of a subject that is denied or affirmed and is connected by a copula.
    • “Wiktionary is a good dictionary” is a proposition.
  7. (countable) An assertion so formulated that it can be considered true or false.
  8. (countable) An assertion which is provably true, but not important enough to be called a theorem.
  9. A statement of religious doctrine; an article of faith; a creed.
    • the propositions of Wyclif and Huss
    • There are some persons, whose religion is hugely disgraced, because they change their propositions, according as their temporal necessities or advantages do return.1668, “Twenty-seven Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, […]: Sermon XXI. [Of Christian Prudence.] Part II.”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev....
  10. (poetic) The part of a poem in which the author states the subject or matter of it.

Verb

proposition (third-person singular simple present propositions, present participle propositioning, simple past and past participle propositioned)

  1. (informal, transitive) To make an offer or suggestion to (someone).
    • The Superintendent of the facility tried to proposition with me that if I snitched to the guards and would work with him, then he would put my friend and me back together again.1984 April 7, anonymous author, “Isolate and Conquer”, in Gay Community News, page 12
    1. (informal, transitive) To make a suggestion of sexual intercourse to (someone with whom one is not sexually involved).
      • Yiannopoulos started releasing video interviews and other evidence meant to prove that [Ali] Alexander sexually propositioned both adult men in their 20s and at least two teenagers.2023 April 17, Will Sommer, “‘Stop the Steal’ Organizer Apologizes After Being Accused of Asking Teen Boys for D*ck Pics”, in The Daily Beast, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2023

Also used as

proposition is also the misspelling of preposition.

proposition meaning in Hindi, Tagalog, Arabic and Thai

proposition in Hindi

the abstract contents of a statement, without reference to its formulation
प्रतिज्ञप्ति pratijñapti, तर्कवाक्य tarkavākya

proposition in Tagalog

math: assertion which can be considered true or false
palagay
an assertion which is provably true, but not important enough to be a theorem
palagay

proposition in Arabic

idea or plan offered
اِقْتِرَاح iqtirāḥ, مُقْتَرَح muqtaraḥ
the abstract contents of a statement, without reference to its formulation
قَضِيَّة qaḍiyya

proposition in Thai

idea or plan offered
ประพจน์
More languagesFewer languages
proposition in Vietnamese
kiến nghị, đề nghị, đề án, mệnh đề

Examples of proposition in a sentence

  • The proposition that "all dogs are mammals" implies that my dog is a mammal.
  • "I resign my life, but not my honour" is a discrete proposition.
  • The ampersand character in many logics acts as an operator connecting two propositions.

All 40 example sentences with proposition

Synonyms of proposition

All synonyms of proposition

Forms of proposition

Noun
pluralpropositions
Verb
third-person singular presentpropositions
present participlepropositioning
past participlepropositioned
pastpropositioned

Plural of proposition: propositions

Origin of proposition

From Middle English proposicioun, from Old French proposicion, from Latin prōpositiō, from the verb prōponō.

Words formed from proposition

Phrases with proposition

Words that rhyme with proposition

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about proposition

What does proposition mean?
Proposition means the act of offering (an idea) for consideration.
What is proposition in Hindi?
Proposition in Hindi is प्रतिज्ञप्ति (pratijñapti), तर्कवाक्य (tarkavākya). See Proposition meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is proposition?
Proposition can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce proposition?
Proposition is pronounced /ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/ (US).
What is the plural of proposition?
The plural of proposition is propositions.

Words near proposition in the dictionary

  1. proposing
  2. proposing marriage
  3. proposita
  4. propositae
  5. propositi
  6. proposition
  7. proposition bet
  8. proposition bets
  9. proposition nation
  10. proposition nations
  11. proposition player

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: proposition (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-proposition.ogg.

Cite this entry: “proposition.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/proposition. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.