premises
Britishplural noun
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a piece of land together with its buildings, esp considered as a place of business
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law
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(in a deed, etc) the matters referred to previously; the aforesaid; the foregoing
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the introductory part of a grant, conveyance, etc
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law (in the US) the part of a bill in equity that states the names of the parties, details of the plaintiff's claims, etc
Explanation
The premises of a property consist of the land and buildings on it, usually of a business or organization. If there are no dogs allowed on the premises of a school, you'll have to leave your furry friend at home. A game of hide-and-go-seek where you can’t leave the house will go a lot faster than one that permits hiding anywhere on the premises, including outdoors. Premises has another, unrelated meaning — it can also be the assumption or hypothesis from which a conclusion is drawn. The English writer Samuel Butler said, “Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.” Meaning, much of life is about guesswork.
Vocabulary lists containing premises
Holes
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Law enforcement officers are on the premises," it reported.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026
Rachel Buchanan, co-owner of Elderwood Books in Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire, said she was currently challenging the business rate valuation of her premises.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
But notice this is already different from the science-fiction fears birthed before AI was a real thing, when simple premises permitted so many startling conclusions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
One of the first major restaurants to embrace DoorDash, the company gets about a fifth of its sales off premises.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
That prevented the laborers from coming to work, and left vast quantities of mangoes, bananas, pineapple, garlic and ginger rotting slowly on the premises of Paradise Pickles.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
