Word of the Day – Syllogism

Syllogism (noun)

sil-o-jiz-m

A form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn using two given or assumed prepositions where a common term is present in both but not in the conclusion. (e.g  all pigs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all pigs have four legs).

I’d been trying to find out the name for this type of reasoning while watching Orphan Black on Netflix but failed, then I stumbled across the word in The Uncommon Reader this week and looked it up to find it was the word I’d been looking for! (See serendipity)

Example sentences

“The use of syllogism is a common theme in testing subjects mental capabilities”

“A simple test of syllogism is good for judging intelligence.”