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Synonyms

syllogize

American  
[sil-uh-jahyz] / ˈsɪl əˌdʒaɪz /
especially British, syllogise

verb (used with or without object)

syllogized, syllogizing
  1. to argue or reason by syllogism.


syllogize British  
/ ˈsɪləˌdʒaɪz /

verb

  1. to reason or infer by using syllogisms

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of syllogize

1375–1425; late Middle English silogysen < Late Latin syllogizāre < Greek syllogízesthai to reason, equivalent to syl- syl- + logízesthai to reckon, infer, equivalent to lóg ( os ) discourse ( see logos) + -izesthai -ize

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.

See Examples For:

But the human intellect can syllogize, and know causes in effects; all of which is the discursive method.

From Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Thomas Aquinas

But during sleep the senses are suspended, as is said in De Somn. et Vigil. i and yet it sometimes happens to us to syllogize while asleep.

From Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Thomas Aquinas

But she had had experience of her, and knew the instinctive divination that got at objects and results where reason in full-grown man would syllogize into the darkness of despair.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume XXII by John Mackay Wilson

It is then only that they syllogize unwelcome truths.

From Harvard Classics Volume 28 Essays English and American by Charles William Eliot

To offer arguments in proof is superfluous—is trifling—it is to ape the philosopher who attempted to syllogize himself into a conviction of his own existence!

From Sermons on Various Important Subjects by Andrew Lee

Farther, he syllogized, saying, These men are but badly skilled in matters of war, for they have not required my parole, neither have they taken my sword from me.

From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 1 by Peter Anthony Motteux

And thereon followed such confusion, with the one weeping and groaning, the other denouncing and syllogizing, and each so vehemently, that the good Duke could not tell which to listen to.

From Flemish Legends by Charles de Coster

The fatal defect consists in this, that it is ill-adapted to bring out the difference between total and partial coincidence of terms, the observation of which is the essential precaution in syllogizing correctly.

From A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive by John Stuart Mill

We suddenly discover that we have been syllogizing like philosophers, as Mrs. Malaprop discovered that her children had been speaking English.

From Buchanan's Journal of Man, September 1887 Volume 1, Number 8 by Joseph R. (Joseph Rodes) Buchanan

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