cooperative principle

proper noun

The idea that listeners and speakers need to cooperate in order to communicate effectively.

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Meanings

proper nounthe cooperative principle
  1. human sciencesThe idea that listeners and speakers need to cooperate in order to communicate effectively.
  2. human sciencesA theory of how listeners and speakers cooperate to communicate with language.

    Our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnected remarks, and would not be rational if they did. They are characteristically, to some degree at least, cooperative efforts [...] One might label this the Cooperative Principle.

    1975, H. Paul Grice, “Logic and conversation”, in Peter Cole, Jerry Morgan, editors, Speech Acts, New York: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 45
Cite this entry
APA

cooperative principle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cooperative%20principle

MLA

“cooperative principle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cooperative%20principle. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cooperative principle,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cooperative%20principle.

Source: cooperative principle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.