presume

See also: présumé and présume

English

Alternative forms

• præsume (archaic)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman presumer, Middle French presumer, and their source, Latin praesūmere (“to take beforehand, anticipate”), from prae- + sūmere (“to take”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈzjuːm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɹiˈz(j)um/, /pɹəˈz(j)um/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈzjuːm/, /pɹɪˈʒuːm/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /pɹɘˈzjʉːm/, /pɹɘˈʒʉːm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Verb

presume (third-person singular simple present presumes, present participle presuming, simple past and past participle presumed)

1. (transitive) With infinitive object: to be so presumptuous as (to do something) without proper authority or permission. [from 14th c.]

   I wouldn't presume to tell him how to do his job.

2. (transitive, now rare) To perform, do (something) without authority; to lay claim to without permission. [from 14th c.]

   Don't make the decision yourself and presume too much.

3. (transitive) To assume or suggest to be true (without proof); to take for granted, to suppose. [from 14th c.]

   Paw-prints in the snow allow us to presume a visit from next door's cat.

   Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

4. (transitive) To take as a premise; to assume for the sake of argument.
   • 2011, John Patterson, The Guardian, 5 Feb 2011:

     If we presume that human cloning may one day become a mundane, everyday reality, then maybe it's time to start thinking more positively about our soon-to-arrive genetically engineered pseudo-siblings.

5. (intransitive) To be presumptuous; with on, upon, to take advantage (of), to take liberties (with). [from 15th c.]
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 22”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, OCLC 216596634:

     Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;

     Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume II, chapter 15:

     Emma was not required, by any subsequent discovery, to retract her ill opinion of Mrs. Elton. Her observation had been pretty correct. Such as Mrs. Elton appeared to her on this second interview, such she appeared whenever they met again,—self-important, presuming, familiar, ignorant, and ill-bred.

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 75:

     Piliso then vented his anger on us, accusing us of lying to him. He said we had presumed on his hospitality and the good name of the regent.

Synonyms

• (to assume to be true): see Thesaurus:suppose

Related terms

• presumption
• presumptive
• presumptuous

Translations

to assume to be true, suppose

• Basque: uste izan
• Bulgarian: предполагам (bg) (predpolagam)
• Catalan: presumir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 假設 (zh), 假设 (zh) (jiǎshè), 假定 (zh) (jiǎdìng), 推測 (zh), 推测 (zh) (tuīcè)

• Dutch: veronderstellen (nl)
• Esperanto: supozi (eo)
• Finnish: otaksua (fi)
• French: présumer (fr), supposer (fr)
• German: annehmen (de), mutmaßen (de), vermuten (de)
• Greek: υποθέτω (el) (ypothéto)
• Hungarian: feltételez (hu)

• Italian: presumere (it)
• Japanese: 推定する (ja) (すいていする, suitei suru), 推測する (ja) (すいそくする, suisoku suru)
• Korean: 거장(假定)하다 (geojanghada)
• Latin: praesūmō
• Maori: whakahira
• Persian: فرض کردن‎ (fa)
• Polish: przypuszczać (pl)
• Portuguese: presumir (pt), pressupor (pt)
• Romanian: presupune (ro)
• Russian: предполага́ть (ru) impf (predpolagátʹ), предположи́ть (ru) pf (predpoložítʹ)
• Swedish: förmoda (sv), förutsätta (sv)
• Ukrainian: припускати (prypuskaty)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} aannemen (nl); ^{(please verify)} veronderstellen (nl)

Anagrams

• Supreme, eusperm, supreme, suprême

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Italian

Verb

presume

1. third-person singular present indicative of presumere

Anagrams

• supreme

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Portuguese

Verb

presume

1. inflection of presumir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

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Spanish

Verb

presume

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of presumir.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of presumir.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of presumir.