entitieseither

Entitieseither is a coined term used in discussions of data modeling, knowledge representation, and natural language processing to denote a disjunctive reference to one of multiple entities. The concept describes situations where a pattern, query, or relation may involve any one of several alternative entities rather than a single fixed element.

Definition and semantics

In practice, entitieseither represents a logical OR among several entity options. A pattern that uses entitieseither(e1, e2, …) is satisfied if the related entity is any one of the listed alternatives. In formal terms, it functions as a shorthand for a set of alternative bindings or for a union of possible entities in a relation. The construct is typically used at the level of query patterns, annotation schemas, or rule-based systems rather than as a native primitive in all knowledge representation languages.

Usage and applications

Entitieseither appears in contexts such as question answering over knowledge graphs, entity resolution, and semantic search, where exact identity is uncertain or multiple candidates must be considered. It helps express optionality or alternatives without enumerating numerous explicit clauses, aiding readability and planning in complex queries or transformation rules. Because many standard languages (for example RDF/OWL) encode disjunction through broader constructs like union or class expressions, entitieseither is commonly implemented as a query-time abstraction or as a pattern shorthand within a given toolkit or documentation.

Representation and examples

In practice, entitieseither is realized through toolkit-specific syntax or through standard disjunction mechanisms such as UNION in query languages. For example, a pattern might express that a subject is related to either ex:EntityA or ex:EntityB, using a union or a values-based alternative list in the underlying query. It is not a universally standardized operator, but a descriptive convenience in many tutorials and designs.

See also disjunction, union, existential quantification.