Posit
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Something that is posited; a postulate.
- 2 (logic) a proposition that is accepted as true in order to provide a basis for logical reasoning wordnet
- 3 Abbreviation of position. abbreviation, alt-of
- 4 A number format representing a real number consisting of a sign bit, a variable-size "regime" part (which modifies the exponent), up to two exponent bits, and a fraction part, proposed as a more efficient alternative to IEEE 754 floats in AI applications.
"With their new hardware implementation, which was synthesized in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), the Complutense team was able to compare computations done using 32-bit floats and 32-bit posits side by side."
- 1 To assume the existence of; to postulate.
"some who posit both this cause and besides this the source of movement, which we have got from some as single and from other as twofold."
- 2 take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom wordnet
- 3 To propose for consideration or study; to suggest.
"Ray's natural theology posited that God was responsible for the near-perfect match between an animal and its environment and encouraged readers to seek evidence for God through the study of nature."
- 4 put before wordnet
- 5 To put (something somewhere) firmly; to place or position.
"Among many Indians, however, an exonormative view, which even today posits British English as the target model, appears to be firmly in place."
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- 6 put (something somewhere) firmly wordnet
Example
More examples"I will posit a guess: the person who ate my sandwich was once again Bob."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin positus, perfect participle of pōnō (“put, place”). Noun sense 3 (type of number format) was coined by American computer scientist and businessman John Gustafson in 2017.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.