entailment implication enthymeme [Grk enthymázein ‘to ponder’]

An abridged syllogism, the major premise being omitted as understood. Aristotle, who introduced the term, used it to mean a syllogism in which the premises are only generally true, a rhetorical, or probable, syllogism. In contrast to the ‘analytical’ or ‘apodictic’ syllogism, the points of proof of the enthymeme can remain unexpressed, e.g. Socrates is a man, and therefore mortal. They must not necessarily be true, but simply plausible. The characteristic argument of an enthymeme is the topos.