entailment
gb/ˈɛntˈeɪlmənt/ us/ˈɛntˈeɪlmənt/
C1
English
Senses
0 senses
Noun
formal
C1
abstract
1
Necessary implication or consequence
a result or implication that something necessarily has
Usage pattern:
the entailment(s) of [something]; [something] has entailments for [someone/something]
Common mistake:
Do not confuse the noun entailment with the verb entail: say “This entails costs,” but “the entailments of this decision.”
Synonyms
implication (more common and less formal)
|
consequence (focuses on the result rather than the necessary connection)
|
ramification (often suggests a complex or unwanted consequence)
Antonyms
cause (what produces something, rather than what follows from it)
|
premise (the starting point from which something may follow)
Collocations
broader entailments
|practical entailments
|social entailments
|political entailments
|ethical entailments
|legal entailments
|economic entailments
|the entailments of a decision
|consider the entailments
|understand the entailments
Themes
communication
|reasoning
|academic
|consequences
Examples
- The report examines the political entailments of the proposed security law.
- Accepting the theory has serious entailments for how we understand human memory.
- The ethical entailments of the technology were not discussed at the launch.
Learner examples
- The decision had financial entailments for the whole family.
- We need to think about the entailments of this plan.
Noun
technical
C2
relation
2
Truth-guaranteeing logical relation
a logical connection where one statement must be true if another statement is true
Usage pattern:
entailment between [statements]; entailment from [premises] to [conclusion]; [statement] is an entailment of [statement]
Common mistake:
In this sense, entailment is stronger than a suggestion or guess; the second statement must follow from the first.
Synonyms
logical consequence (the standard term in formal logic)
|
implication (broader and sometimes less strict)
|
inference (focuses on the act of drawing the conclusion)
Antonyms
contradiction (a relation where statements cannot both be true)
|
non-entailment (the absence of a necessary logical relation)
Collocations
logical entailment
|semantic entailment
|entailment relation
|valid entailment
|one-way entailment
|mutual entailment
|test for entailment
|entailment from premises
|entailment between sentences
|the entailment holds
Themes
logic
|linguistics
|philosophy
|semantics
|reasoning
Examples
- In the sentence “Maria bought a car,” there is an entailment that Maria bought a vehicle.
- The entailment fails because the conclusion could be false even if the premise is true.
- Students learned how to identify entailment between pairs of sentences.
Learner examples
- “All cats are animals” gives the entailment that a cat is an animal.
- If the first sentence is true, the entailment makes the second sentence true too.
Noun
legal
C2
rule
3
Restricted inheritance of property
an old legal rule that controls who can inherit a family property
Usage pattern:
an entailment on [property]; break an entailment; property subject to entailment
Common mistake:
This sense is mostly historical. In property law and older novels, the related noun entail is also common.
Synonyms
entail (the more traditional legal noun for this arrangement)
|
fee tail (a more technical property-law term)
|
settlement (broader; can refer to other legal arrangements for property)
Antonyms
fee simple (full ownership that can usually be sold or inherited freely)
|
absolute ownership (ownership without this kind of inheritance restriction)
Collocations
property entailment
|family entailment
|strict entailment
|estate entailment
|break an entailment
|property subject to entailment
|inheritance entailment
Themes
law
|property
|inheritance
|history
Examples
- The entailment kept the estate within the eldest son’s line.
- Nineteenth-century novels often turn on an entailment that prevents daughters from inheriting land.
- Lawyers tried to break the entailment so the family could sell the property.
Learner examples
- The entailment meant that only the male heir could inherit the house.
Grammar
Dictionary form
entailment
IPA
GB/ˈɛntˈeɪlmənt/
US/ˈɛntˈeɪlmənt/
Syllables & stress
en - tail - ment (3 syllables)
Stress on 1st syllable (en)
Word forms
Noun
- Base: entailment
- Plural: entailments
Expressions
logical entailment
1/lˈɑd͡ʒɪkəl ˈɛntˈeɪlmənt/
fixed phrase
technical
Formal logical consequence
a strict logical link where the conclusion must be true if the premises are true
Examples
- The proof establishes logical entailment from the axioms to the theorem.
- There is no logical entailment from “Some students passed” to “All students passed.”
mutual entailment
1/mjˈut͡ʃuəl ˈɛntˈeɪlmənt/
fixed phrase
technical
Two-way necessary implication
when two statements each make the other necessarily true
Examples
- If two translations show mutual entailment, they preserve the same core meaning.
- The sentences “The glass is half full” and “The glass is not less than half full” do not always have mutual entailment in ordinary conversation.
semantic entailment
1/sɪmˈæntɪk ˈɛntˈeɪlmənt/
fixed phrase
technical
Meaning-based necessary implication
a meaning relation where one sentence makes another sentence necessarily true
Examples
- The semantic entailment from “Tom is a bachelor” to “Tom is unmarried” depends on the meaning of bachelor.
- Linguists use semantic entailment to test how sentence meanings are related.
textual entailment
1/tˈɛkst͡ʃˌuəl ˈɛntˈeɪlmənt/
fixed phrase
technical
Text-supported inference relation
when a computer system decides that one piece of text shows another statement is true
Examples
- The model was tested on textual entailment: from “A woman is slicing onions,” it should infer “A person is preparing food.”
- Textual entailment datasets are widely used to evaluate natural-language understanding systems.