premise

American  

[prem-is] / ˈprɛm ɪs /

noun

• premises
  plural

1. Logic. Also premiss. a proposition supporting or helping to support a conclusion.

   Synonyms:

   postulate, assumption

2. premises,

   1. a tract of land including its buildings.

   2. a building together with its grounds or other appurtenances.

   3. the property forming the subject of a conveyance or bequest.

3. Law.

   1. a basis, stated or assumed, on which reasoning proceeds.

   2. an earlier statement in a document.

   3. (in a bill in equity) the statement of facts upon which the complaint is based.

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verb (used with object)

• premises,
  present (3rd person singular)
• premised,
  past participle,  past
• premising
  present participle

1. to set forth beforehand, as by way of introduction or explanation.

2. to assume, either explicitly or implicitly, (a proposition) as a premise for a conclusion.

   Synonyms:

   hypothesize, postulate

verb (used without object)

• premises,
  present (3rd person singular)
• premised,
  past participle,  past
• premising
  present participle

1. to state or assume a premise.

premise British  

noun

1. Also: premiss. logic a statement that is assumed to be true for the purpose of an argument from which a conclusion is drawn

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verb

1. (when tr, may take a clause as object) to state or assume (a proposition) as a premise in an argument, theory, etc

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• repremise
  verb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• premises
  plural

Participles

• premising
  present
• premised
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• premise
  simple
• premises
  simple
• have premised
  perfect
• has premised
  perfect
• am premising
  progressive
• are premising
  progressive
• is premising
  progressive
• have been premising
  perfect progressive
• has been premising
  perfect progressive

Past

• premised
  simple
• had premised
  perfect
• was premising
  progressive
• were premising
  progressive
• had been premising
  perfect progressive

Future

• will premise
  simple
• will have premised
  perfect
• will be premising
  progressive
• will have been premising
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of premise

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English premiss, from Medieval Latin praemissa, noun use of feminine of Latin praemissus, past participle of praemittere “to send before,” equivalent to prae- “before, in front, ahead,” + mittere “to send”; see pre-

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Explanation

A premise is what forms the basis of a theory or a plot. When you called 911 on the guy in your back yard, it was on the premise that he was a thief and not the meter-reader. In logic, the premise is the basic statement upon whose truth an argument is based. Criticize alternative theories by demonstrating their false premises. In a more general sense, it's a basic assertion. On the premise that people are generally good, you keep your doors unlocked. Premise is also used more loosely for the starting point for a plot. A movie's premise could be that two people trapped on a desert island will inevitably fall in love.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

premise premises premised premising

He wanted to make the entire premise of the competition obsolete.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Learn about whale biology: If you’ve seen or heard of the movie Whalefall, in which a scuba diver is swallowed by a whale, you have probably wondered whether the premise is at all plausible.

From Slate ● Oct. 19, 2026

McCarthy’s “Spicy” is hard to beat, but a Zacharia parody could come in a close second should it end up as the premise for “SNL’s” cold open this weekend.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

After the last-lap incident in the sprint race in Singapore, are 'papaya rules' finally failing at McLaren, and with them the premise of running two number one drivers?

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

But if Jenny and the others stuck with the silly Dog Squad premise, Cha-Cha would be reduced to making one guest appearance.

From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein

Often they were seemingly simple premises that took advantage of legal loopholes — perhaps most famous was when he rebranded a local coffee shop as “Dumb Starbucks.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

The Post reported that historic items are typically moved around the Pentagon premises by trained curators.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

Early Monday morning, agents from Homeland Security Investigations, part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, surrounded Omar’s home and entered the premises, then left with boxes and other items.

From Slate ● Oct. 13, 2026

It is following what it calls a "prebuild approach" that will allow firms to move into their new premises quickly.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

He had no money, he said, and asked if he could sleep temporarily on the club’s premises.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

“This was premised on a convergence in U.S. rates with those abroad as the Fed remained on hold and other central banks caught up,” said the Morgan Stanley team.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

Trademarks, unlike copyrights or patents, are intellectual property that are not premised on creating value for whoever registers them; they’re about protecting consumers.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

Expectations of the proliferation of AI across industries and in consumer applications were premised on a massive build-out of the data centers needed to support the technology.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

The policy was originally premised on the SEC’s statutory authority “to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary or appropriate” to enforce securities laws.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Everything that she, Baby Kochamma, had done, had been premised on one assumption.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Feinstein, who is well known for her opposition to drones, is premising her legislation on safety concerns.

From Forbes ● Dec. 3, 2014

One of his most premising innovations was a new Secretariat for non-Christian religions; but Paul entrusted the project to a Curia professional, Paolo Cardinal Marella, and almost nothing has been heard of it since.

From Time Magazine Archive

I shall begin my narrative from the commencement of that union; only premising, that I was the son of the younger branch of a noble family, whose name I bear.

From The Sylph, Volume I and II by Georgiana Cavendish

Nevertheless, we must essay it; premising, by-the-by, that if our readers while in London do not go to see the Viaduct for themselves, our trouble will be three parte thrown away. 

From Collins' Illustrated Guide to London and Neighbourhood by Anonymous

I will therefore anticipate criticism by a remark or two, premising that I am too thoroughly imbued with the spirit of antiquarianism to make innovations without good and sufficient reason.

From The Curiosities of Heraldry by Mark Antony Lower

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Related Words

• assertion
• assumption
• basis
• ground
• presumption
• proposition
• thesis

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