premised

Premised is the past tense and past participle of the verb premise. In logic, argumentation, and formal writing, to premise something means to base a statement, argument, plan, or theory on a stated proposition or assumption; to presuppose. The usual construction is premised on, as in The policy is premised on the belief that early intervention reduces costs. The passive form is also common: The theory was premised on data from a limited sample.

In usage, premised emphasizes the underlying assumptions that support a conclusion. It is most common in analytical, academic, and policy contexts. The phrase premised that is possible but often sounds clumsy; premised on is generally preferred when referring to an underlying premise, while premised that may introduce a specific asserted proposition.

Care should be taken not to confuse related terms. Premise (singular) is a proposition or assumption offered as the basis of argument, whereas premises (plural) can refer to a building or property. Premised focuses on the act of basing an argument on a premise, not on physical space.

Etymology traces premised to premise, from the Latin praemissus meaning placed before, via Old French and Middle English developments. The sense is to set a proposition before the reader as the basis for reasoning.

See also: premise, premises, predication, basis (inference), grounded in.