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

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-

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

Huntsinger hopes audiences won’t overlook Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown,” an uncanny body-swapping drama starring Léa Seydoux that uses its genre premise to explore questions of identity and selfhood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

And yet, the film fails to utilize either to its advantage, wasting great talent and a halfway-decent premise on mind-numbing dialogue, repetitive plotting and dour lighting.

From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026

In a statement to the BBC, Amazon "strongly disagrees" with the premise that it misled advertisers and called the suit "misguided."

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

I have spent five decades trading on a simple premise: Markets aggregate information no committee possesses, and prices are how that information reaches decision makers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

An experiment it seemed now, whose premise did not hold.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

The new language proposal - similar to one already in force in the capital Kyiv and some other cities – would urge but not require private premises including shops and cafes to adopt the ban.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

A server built around the same four processors costs about $75,500 to put on your own premises.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

Exercises often pushed students into strange scenarios or premises: embodying an object, exploring a feeling or inhabiting a logic to find more instinctive, present performances.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

At one bookshop event, she recalls government officials entering the premises.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

An old man belonging to Colonel Lloyd, while thus engaged, happened to get beyond the limits of Colonel Lloyd’s, and on the premises of Mr. Beal Bondly.

From "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass

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

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

He also rejected the notion that he would do Big Tech’s bidding, and the idea that his support from tech leaders is entirely or even largely premised on his plans for their industry.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

Yoder, the court premised its decision to allow Amish parents to remove older children from school on expert testimony showing that the decision caused no harm “to the physical or mental health of the child.”

From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2026

The colorblindness ideal is premised on the notion that we, as a society, can never be trusted to see race and treat each other fairly or with genuine compassion.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

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

Man's pity 's for himself, or for his son, Always premising that said son at college Has not contracted much more debt than knowledge.

From Don Juan by George Gordon Byron, Baron Byron

Diderot began by premising that he would let his thoughts follow one another under his pen, in the order in which the subjects came up in his mind; and he kept his word.

From Diderot and the Encyclopædists Volume II. by John Morley

M. Elizabet began by mentioning it as a secret, premising that no one could tell her and warn her, except her who was her sister.

From Memoirs of Leonora Christina Daughter of Christian IV. of Denmark; Written During Her Imprisonment in the Blue Tower at Copenhagen 1663-1685 by Leonora Christina Ulfeldt

Related Words

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