plural lemmas or lemmata
ˈle-mə-tə 
1
: an auxiliary proposition used in the demonstration of another proposition
2
: the argument or theme of a composition prefixed as a title or introduction
also
: the heading or theme of a comment or note on a text
3
: a glossed word or phrase
: the lower of the two bracts enclosing the flower in the spikelet of grasses
Examples of lemma in a Sentence
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Lyndie Chiou, Scientific American, 27 Mar. 2025
In the 1970s, Lovász collaborated with Erdős to devise a complementary technique, called the Lovász local lemma, that works for proving the existence of graphs that are very rare.
—Quanta Magazine, 17 Mar. 2021
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Noun
In the end, the group derived a collection of complex lemmas, or intermediate steps in a theorem, that, together with the categories, used proof by contradiction to find no matching paths.
—Lyndie Chiou, Scientific American, 27 Mar. 2025
In the 1970s, Lovász collaborated with Erdős to devise a complementary technique, called the Lovász local lemma, that works for proving the existence of graphs that are very rare.
—Quanta Magazine, 17 Mar. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Lemma.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lemma. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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