Phrase guide

lambda calculus

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of a family of functionally complete algebraic systems in which lambda expressions are evaluated according to a fixed set of rules to produce values, which may themselves be lambda expressions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: computing, computing-theory, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Coined by Alonzo Church after the use of the Greek letter lambda (λ) as the basic abstraction operator in the calculus.

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: càlcul lambda — algebraic system
  • Czech: lambda kalkul — algebraic system
  • Finnish: lambdakalkyyli — algebraic system
  • German: Lambda-Kalkül — algebraic system
  • Greek: λογισμός λάμδα (logismós lámda) — algebraic system
  • Icelandic: lambda-reikningur — algebraic system
  • Italian: calcolo lambda — algebraic system
  • Japanese: λ計算 — algebraic system
  • Japanese: ラムダ計算 (ramuda keisan) — algebraic system
  • Macedonian: ламбда-пресметка (lambda-presmetka) — algebraic system
  • Polish: rachunek lambda — algebraic system
  • Romanian: calcul lambda — algebraic system
  • Russian: лямбда-исчисление (ljambda-isčislenije) — algebraic system
  • Serbo-Croatian: lambda račun — algebraic system
  • Swedish: lambdakalkyl — algebraic system