major term
- noun
- Specialized
:
término mayor
- In the syllogism, the major term is 'mammal', as it is used to predicate the conclusion that all dogs are mammals.
Examples
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To understand the conclusion drawn from the premises, it is crucial to identify the major term in the logical reasoning.
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The professor explained that the major term in this argument determines the essential quality of the subjects involved.
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Three major terms used in this study are: (1) a case study, (2) whole language approach, and (3) phonics instruction method.
Academic text (2015)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'major' (more important/larger) and 'term' (a labelled word) give a general sense of an 'important word', so a learner could guess a non-technical meaning. However, the precise sense in logic — specifically the term that serves as the predicate of the conclusion — is a discipline-specific convention not predictable from the constituents alone, so prior exposure or instruction is needed.
Etymology
The noun major term comes from logic, where major means 'main' and term means 'word'. Think of the biggest idea in the final sentence of an argument — the word that tells what the subject is; that's why the major term is the word in the conclusion that describes the subject.
