Meaning & use
postulation
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountableformal
The act of suggesting something as true, without proof, so that you can reason from it.
Grammar: Often uncountable for the act, countable for a specific claim.
Patterns
- the postulation of something
The postulation of a hidden planet explained the odd orbits.
His argument rests on the postulation that people act rationally.
Early physicists relied on the postulation of an invisible ether.
nouncountableformal
A statement put forward as a basis for argument; a postulate.
Grammar: Countable: several postulations.
Patterns
- a postulation about something
Her postulations were later tested in the lab.
The theory starts with three simple postulations.
Word forms
| plural | postulations |
|---|
Common combinations
- theoretical postulation
- The theoretical postulation seemed plausible.
- postulation of a theory
- The postulation of a new theory changed the field.
- basic postulation
- A basic postulation underlies the whole model.
- philosophical postulation
- A philosophical postulation about free will followed.
Synonyms and how they differ
- assumption
- Assumption is the everyday word, and it can be careless, while postulation sounds deliberate and scholarly.
- hypothesis
- A hypothesis is meant to be tested, but a postulation may simply be accepted as a starting point.
- premise
- Premise is a statement in an argument that conclusions depend on, whereas postulation is the act of putting it forward.
- supposition
- Supposition is more of a guess, while postulation is a formal basis for reasoning.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: postulation or postulate?
postulation vs postulate
Postulate is the verb or the statement itself, while postulation is the act or the idea of postulating.
Practice
Which word names the act of proposing an idea as a starting point without proof?
Choose one answer.
Postulation is putting forward an idea as an assumption. Confirmation and verification need evidence, and refutation means disproving.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “postulation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.