lemma

¹ American  

[lem-uh] / ˈlɛm ə /

noun

lemmas, plural lemmata plural

1. a subsidiary proposition introduced in proving some other proposition; a helping theorem.

2. an argument, theme, or subject, especially when indicated in a heading.

3. a word or phrase that is glossed; headword.

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lemma ² American  

[lem-uh] / ˈlɛm ə /

noun

Botany.

lemmas plural

1. a bract in a grass spikelet just below the pistil and stamens.

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lemma ¹ British  

/ ˈlɛmə /

noun

1. a subsidiary proposition, proved for use in the proof of another proposition

2. linguistics a word considered as its citation form together with all the inflected forms. For example, the lemma go consists of go together with goes, going, went, and gone

3. an argument or theme, esp when used as the subject or title of a composition

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lemma ² British  

/ ˈlɛmə /

noun

1. the outer of two bracts surrounding each floret in a grass spikelet Compare palea

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lemma Scientific  

/ lĕm′ə /

lemmas plural

1. The outer or lower of the two bracts enclosing one of the flowers within a grass spikelet.

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Etymology

Origin of lemma¹

1560–70; < Latin: theme, title, epigram < Greek lêmma something received, premise, akin to lambánein to take, receive, take for granted

Origin of lemma²

1745–55; < Greek lémma shell, husk, akin to lépein to peel

Example Sentences

A false lemma is a false premise, or step in the reasoning process.

From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022

You’ll have to listen to the episode to hear why this opulent meringue concoction is the perfect accompaniment to Sperner’s lemma.

From Scientific American • Sep. 29, 2018

If you’d like to learn more about the real favorite theorem of every category theorist, check out Tai-Danae Bradley’s series about the Yoneda lemma on her blog Math3ma, starting with this post.

From Scientific American • May 28, 2018

Once a lemma frequency dictionary was in place for each drug, this information was fed into Wordle to generate the detailed visualizations for each part of speech.

From Scientific American • Nov. 26, 2012

Some American Authors have recently adopted for the flowering glume the term lemma introduced by Piper.

From A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses by Rangachari, K.

Related Words

• assumption
• axiom
• conclusion
• conjecture
• explanation
• guess
• inference
• interpretation
• premise
• proposition
• rationale
• supposition
• theorem
• thesis