logic

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The study of the principles of reasoning, especially of the structure of propositions as distinguished from their content and of method and validity in deductive reasoning.
2. n. A system of reasoning: Aristotle's logic.
3. n. A mode of reasoning: By that logic, we should sell the company tomorrow.
4. n. The formal, guiding principles of a discipline, school, or science.
5. n. Valid reasoning: Your paper lacks the logic to prove your thesis.
6. n. The relationship between elements and between an element and the whole in a set of objects, individuals, principles, or events: There's a certain logic to the motion of rush-hour traffic.
7. n. Computer Science The nonarithmetic operations performed by a computer, such as sorting, comparing, and matching, that involve yes-no decisions.
8. n. Computer Science Computer circuitry.
9. n. Computer Science Graphic representation of computer circuitry.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The science of the distinction of true from false reasoning, with whatever is naturally treated in connection therewith. See the phrases below. The definition of logic has been much disputed, and many definitions of the word have been given. There was much discussion in ancient and medieval times of the questions whether logic was a mode of knowing, or an instrument of science, or an art, or a practical science, or a speculative science. There was also a great diversity of opinion as to the subject-matter of logic, some holding that it had to do with words, others that it treated of the ens rationis, or that which has its existence in thought, and still others that it related to argumentations or some instrument of knowing. In modern times, especially since Kant, the real divergence of conception has been very much greater, one party holding that the main business of logic consists in developing the true theory of the process of cognition, and a second that its chief work is to separate inferences into classes distinguished by their form, while a third maintains that the form and the matter of thought have to be evolved together.
2. n. [Dialectic and organon are generally synonyms of logic, though they have been variously distinguished at different times.]
3. n. Reasoning, or power of reasoning; ratiocination; argumentation; used absolutely, reason; sound sense.
4. n. The science of the necessary rules of thought: also called scientific logic: opposed to natural logic .
5. n. The logical doctrine applicable to natural things: opposed to the logic of faith, which is applicable to supernatural things (a distinction used in discussions on the Trinity).
6. n. An anthropological science which treats of the rules of the natural use of the understanding.
7. n. The logic of objective thought, or thought as it exists in the external world.
8. n. The science which expounds the laws by which our scientific procedure should be governed, so far as these lie in the contents, materials, or objects about which our knowledge is conversant. Also called material logic.
9. Pertaining to God the Son as the Logos or Word of God.

Wiktionary

1. adj. logical
2. n. uncountable A method of human thought that involves thinking in a linear, step-by-step manner about how a problem can be solved. Logic is the basis of many principles including the scientific method.
3. n. philosophy, logic The study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.
4. n. uncountable (mathematics) The mathematical study of relationships between rigorously defined concepts and of proof of statements.
5. n. countable (mathematics) A formal or informal language together with a deductive system or a model-theoretic semantics.
6. n. uncountable Any system of thought, whether rigorous and productive or not, especially one associated with a particular person.
7. n. uncountable The part of a system (usually electronic) that performs the boolean logic operations, short for logic gates or logic circuit.
8. v. intransitive, pejorative To engage in excessive or inappropriate application of logic.
9. v. transitive To apply logical reasoning to.
10. v. transitive To overcome by logical argument.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The science or art of exact reasoning, or of pure and formal thought, or of the laws according to which the processes of pure thinking should be conducted; the science of the formation and application of general notions; the science of generalization, judgment, classification, reasoning, and systematic arrangement; the science of correct reasoning.
2. n. A treatise on logic.
3. n. correct reasoning; ; also, sound judgment.
4. n. The path of reasoning used in any specific argument.
5. n. (Electronics, Computers) A function of an electrical circuit (called a gate) that mimics certain elementary binary logical operations on electrical signals, such as AND, OR, or NOT.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the principles that guide reasoning within a given field or situation
2. n. a system of reasoning
3. n. the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference
4. n. the system of operations performed by a computer that underlies the machine's representation of logical operations
5. n. reasoned and reasonable judgment