Definition of "predicate" [pred•i•cate]

• To base or establish (a statement or action, for example): I predicated my argument on the facts. (verb-transitive)
• To state or affirm as an attribute or quality of something: The sermon predicated the perfectibility of humankind. (verb-transitive)
• To carry the connotation of; imply. (verb-transitive)
• Logic To make (a term or expression) the predicate of a proposition. (verb-transitive)
• To proclaim or assert; declare. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "-- The short line following the subject line represents the entire predicate, and is supposed to be continued in the three horizontal lines that follow, each of which represents one of the parts of the _compound predicate_."
• "a modifier of the subject, because ----; _rudely_ is a modifier of the predicate, because ----; _The letters_ is the modified subject, _were rudely carved_ is the _modified predicate_."
• "Ask someone to tell you what a predicate is and be prepared to see the deer-in-the-headlight phenomenon!"