syncategorematic

syncategorematic
Traditionally, a categorematic term is any term that stands alone, as a meaningful constituent of a proposition, while syncategorematic terms need others to make a meaningful unit. A more precise definition can be given for a formal language, where the distinction corresponds roughly to those expressions that are assigned objects, functions, and relations in the interpretation of a formula, and those that are not. For instance, the parentheses in ‘(3 + 4) × 2’ are not interpreted as referring to anything when this expression is evaluated, although they play a role in determining how it is evaluated. But modern logic assigns an interpretation to terms like ‘and’ and ‘not’ which are traditionally syncategorematic. The distinction loses some of its bite in post- Fregean theories of meaning, which tend to make the sentence into the smallest meaningful piece of language, with all word-meaning described in terms of contribution to sentence-meaning.

Philosophy dictionary. . 2011.

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  • Syncategorematic — Syn*cat e*gor e*mat ic, a. [Gr. ?; sy n with + ? a predicate. See {Syn }, and {Categorematic}.] (Logic) Not capable of being used as a term by itself; said of words, as an adverb or preposition. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • syncategorematic — adjective Etymology: Late Latin syncategoremat , syncategorema syncategorematic term, from Greek synkatēgorēma, from synkatēgorein to predicate jointly, from syn + katēgorein to predicate more at category Date: 1827 forming a meaningful… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • syncategorematic — adjective of a term that cannot stand as the subject or (especially) the predicate of a proposition but must be used in conjunction with other terms or is a syncategorematic term • Ant: ↑categorematic • Similar to: ↑synsemantic • Derivationally… …   Useful english dictionary

  • syncategorematic — /sin kat i gawr euh mat ik, gor /, adj. 1. Traditional Logic. of or pertaining to a word that is part of a categorical proposition but is not a term, as all, some, is. 2. Contemporary Logic. of or pertaining to a word or symbol that has no… …   Universalium

  • syncategorematic — adjective Needing other terms in order to make a meaningful constituent of language See Also: categorematic …   Wiktionary

  • syncategorematic — syn·categorematic …   English syllables

  • syncategorematic —   a. having meaning only in conjunction with another word …   Dictionary of difficult words

  • syncategorem — noun a syncategorematic expression; a word that cannot be used alone as a term in a logical proposition logical quantifiers, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions are called syncategoremes • Syn: ↑syncategoreme • Ant: ↑categoreme (for:… …   Useful english dictionary

  • syncategoreme — noun a syncategorematic expression; a word that cannot be used alone as a term in a logical proposition logical quantifiers, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions are called syncategoremes • Syn: ↑syncategorem • Ant: ↑categoreme, ↑categorem… …   Useful english dictionary

  • syncategorematically — adverb see syncategorematic I * * * syncategorematˈically adverb • • • Main Entry: ↑syncategorematic …   Useful english dictionary

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