sorites

American  

[saw-rahy-teez, soh-] / sɔˈraɪ tiz, soʊ- /

noun

Logic.

1. a form of argument having several premises and one conclusion, capable of being resolved into a chain of syllogisms, the conclusion of each of which is a premise of the next.

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sorites British  

/ sɒˈraɪtiːz, sɒˈrɪtɪkəl /

noun

1. logic

   1. a polysyllogism in which the premises are arranged so that intermediate conclusions are omitted, being understood, and only the final conclusion is stated

   2. a paradox of the form

      these few grains of sand do not constitute a heap, and the addition of a single grain never makes what is not yet a heap into a heap: so no matter how many single grains one adds it never becomes a heap

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Other Word Forms

• soritic
  adjective
• soritical
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of sorites

1545–55; < Latin sōrītēs < Greek sōreítēs literally, heaped, piled up, derivative of sōrós a heap

Example Sentences

He has himself admitted a kind of sorites of indebtedness to Diderot, Sterne, Swift, Rabelais, Folengo, Lucian, and Petronius.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by Saintsbury, George

Pauthier calls the paragraphs where they occur instances of the sorites, or abridged syllogism.

From The Chinese Classics: with a translation, critical and exegetical notes, prolegomena and copious indexes (Shih ching. English) — Volume 1 by Legge, James

If you are not a man of taste, how can you ever hope to be of use in the world?'—a sorites, says my brother, which must, he thinks, be somewhere defective.

From The Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Bart., K.C.S.I. A Judge of the High Court of Justice by Stephen, Leslie, Sir

The regressive sorites, it will be observed, consists of the same propositions as the progressive one, only written in reverse order.

From Deductive Logic by Stock, St. George William Joseph

Both the instances chosen belong to the progressive order of sorites.

From Deductive Logic by Stock, St. George William Joseph