Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. That can be stated or predicated: a predicable conclusion.
- n. Something, such as a general quality or attribute, that can be predicated.
- n. Logic One of the general attributes of a subject or class. In scholastic thought, the attributes are genus, species, property, differentia, and accident; in Aristotelian thought, they are definition, genus, proprium, and accident.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Capable of being predicated or affirmed; assertable.
- n. A logical term considered as capable of being universally predicated of another; usually, one of the five words, or five kinds of predicates, according to the Aristotelian logic, namely genus, species, difference, property, and accident. Thus, Petrus Hispanus says (in Latin, but it is equally true in English): “Predicable taken properly is the same as universal, only they differ in this, that predicable is defined by ‘is said of’ while universal is defined by ‘is in.’ For predicable is what is born apt to be said of many, and universal is what is born apt to be in many.”
Wiktionary
- adj. grammar That may be used in the predicate of a sentence, especially following a form of verb "to be".
- n. Anything affirmable of another; especially, a general attribute or notion as affirmable of, or applicable to, many individuals.
- n. logic One of the five most general relations of attributes involved in logical arrangements, namely, genus, species, difference, property, and accident.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Capable of being predicated or affirmed of something; affirmable; attributable.
- n. Anything affirmable of another; especially, a general attribute or notion as affirmable of, or applicable to, many individuals.
- n. (Logic) One of the five most general relations of attributes involved in logical arrangements, namely, genus, species, difference, property, and accident.
Etymologies
- Late Latin praedicābilis, from praedicāre, to proclaim publicly, preach, predicate; see preach. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A predicable was another name for a universal, the common term being called a predicable in one relation and a universal in another-a predicable, extensively, in so far as it was applicable to several different things, a universal, intensively, in so far as the attributes indicated were implied in several other notions, as the attributes indicated by 'animal' are implied in 'horse,' 'sheep,”
“In this sense it is called predicable, as distinguished from predicamental, accident, the latter term standing for a real objective form or status of things, and denoting”
“If, however, the predicaments are heads of a classification of terms predicable, we may expect to find some connection with the predicables; and, in fact, secondary Substances are species and genus; whilst the remaining nine forms are generally accidents.”
“There's a certain kind of predicable good taste; everything matches all too precisely and the impact is usually pleasant and boring.”
“We're talking about hundreds of millions of Social Security numbers that are still potentially predicable," Acquisti said.”
The Huffington Post: Child Identity Theft Takes Advantage Of Kids' Unused Social Security Numbers
“The exploding cane duel suggestion was funny, but really so much of it was predicable.”
“Before it was more like a sleepy, nice, predicable Westchester community," said Edith Roth , a broker who has lived in the village for more than 25 years.”
The Wall Street Journal: Mamaroneck Starts to Lose 'Sleepy' Feel
“Some of these old white haired men need to get voted out of the Senate so that only their wives are subject to their boring predicable rhetoric.”
“It means less predicable climate and more extreme weather, and a myriad of other knock-on consequences that ultimately cost us a great deal of money, or worse.”
The Huffington Post: Adam Lowry: Don't Fix the Blame, Fix the Problem
“I really like the office, I am just starting to think it is very predicable.”
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