1. A classically valid inference rule by which the antecedent of a true conditional may be conjoined to the consequent. Where and are conditional and conjunction connectives, respectively, the rule of absorption can be represented as the rule:
i.e., from one may infer .
2. A pair of rules of inference corresponding to the absorption identities that hold in Boolean lattices. These are the absorption of conjunction by disjunction, represented by the equivalence:
i.e., is logically equivalent to itself. Dually, the absorption of disjunction by conjunction can be represented as the rule:
3. Another name for contraction in sense 2.