A partially ordered set (or ordered set or poset for short)
is called a complete lattice if every subset
of
has a least upper bound
(supremum,
) and a greatest lower
bound (infimum,
) in
.
Taking
shows that every complete lattice
has a greatest element (maximum,
) and a least element (minimum,
).
Of course, every complete lattice is a lattice. Moreover, every lattice with a finite set
is a complete lattice.