entailment

American  

[en-teyl-muhnt] / ɛnˈteɪl mənt /

noun

1. the act or fact of entailing, or involving by necessity or as a consequence.

   The logical entailment of this approach is that the right way to design a curriculum is to make it free of bias.

2. something involved as a necessary part or consequence of something.

   Long hours of work are an entailment of the job.

3. Linguistics. a relationship between two sentences such that if the first is true, the second must also be true, as in Her son drives her to work every day and Her son knows how to drive .

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entailment British  

/ ɪnˈteɪlmənt /

noun

1. the act of entailing or the condition of being entailed

2. philosophy logic

   1. a relationship between propositions such that one must be true if the others are

   2. Usual symbol: ∋.  a proposition whose truth depends on such a relationship See fish-hook

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Other Word Forms

• preentailment noun

Etymology

Origin of entailment

entail + -ment

Explanation

An entailment is a deduction or implication, that is, something that follows logically from or is implied by something else. In logic, an entailment is the relationship between sentences whereby one sentence will be true if all the others are also true. Want a less-dry-sounding, real-life example? How about this: Being a good student, for instance, is an entailment of attending classes, learning the material, and keeping up with assignments. An old-fashioned definition of entailment is a set of limitations that restrict the ways property can be bequeathed to heirs.

Example Sentences

Four States declared in their constitutions against the entailment of estates, and primogeniture was abolished in aristocratic Virginia.

From The Fathers of the Constitution; a chronicle of the establishment of the Union by Farrand, Max

Hence, we shall content ourselves with calling attention to a few facts of great importance respecting the conditions which imperatively forbid marriage, and which cannot be violated without the certain entailment of great suffering.

From Plain Facts for Old and Young by Kellogg, John Harvey

There were wanting, however, two great elements in the nation's institutions, to sustain in its pride and efficiency this peculiar advantage, to wit, the entailment of estates, and the right of primogeniture.

From The Memories of Fifty Years Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest by Sparks, William Henry

Ownership is not complicated in any way with magisterial duties or prestige or entailment, as in England.

From Rural Health and Welfare by Fairchild, George Thompson

The emancipated Negro struggles up to-day against many obstacles, the entailment of a brutal slavery.

From The Negro Problem by Fortune, Timothy Thomas

Related Words

• consequence
• ramification
• repercussion
• residual
• result