Porism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A proposition affirming the possibility of finding such conditions as will render a certain determinate problem indeterminate or capable of innumerable solutions.
  2. 2
    A corollary.

    "Porism: something between a problem and a theorem or that in which something is proposed to be investigated. A Porism is a proposition in which it is proposed to demonstrate that some one thing, or more things than one, are given, to which, as also to each of innumerable other things, not given indeed, but which have the same relation to those which are given, it is to be shewn that there belongs some common affection described in the proposition."

Example

More examples

"Porism: something between a problem and a theorem or that in which something is proposed to be investigated. A Porism is a proposition in which it is proposed to demonstrate that some one thing, or more things than one, are given, to which, as also to each of innumerable other things, not given indeed, but which have the same relation to those which are given, it is to be shewn that there belongs some common affection described in the proposition."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πόρισμα (pórisma, “a deduction from a previous demonstration”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.