Barbara
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A syllogism in which all three propositions are of the form "All X are Y" or "X is a Y".
- 1 A female given name from Latin.
"My mother had a maid call'd Barbara; / She was in love, and he she lov'd prov'd mad / And did forsake her; […]"
- 2 A syllogism in which all three propositions are of the form "All X are Y" or "X is a Y".
"If you see a girl you like, prove it to her by Barbara and Celarent all the way to Fresison or whatever the logician's Omega is — I forget."
Example
More examples"How did Barbara do on her driver's test yesterday?"
Etymology
* From Latin Barbara, the name of Saint Barbara, feminine form of barbarus, from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “strange, foreign”). Doublet of Varvara. * (logic): From the given name; chosen because it has three A's in it representing universal affirmatives.
From the name Barbara; chosen because it has three A's in it representing universal affirmatives.
Related phrases
More for "barbara"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.