Zorn's lemma
[ zawrnz ]
/ zɔrnz /
noun Mathematics.
a theorem of set theory that if every totally ordered subset of a nonempty partially ordered set has an upper bound, then there is an element in the set such that the set contains no element greater than the specified given element.
Origin of Zorn's lemma
1945–50; after Max August
Zorn (born 1906), German mathematician