assume
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈsjuːm/
note: yod-coalescence
ipa: /əˈʃuːm/
note: yod-dropping
ipa: /əˈsuːm/
note: African, especially Nigerian; Indic, proscribed
ipa: /əˈzuːm/
rhymes: -uːm
Forms: form: assumes
form: assuming
form: assumed
form: assumed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: assume
form: assume
form: assumed
form: assume
form: assumest
form: assumed
form: assumedst
form: assumes
form: assumeth
form: assumed
form: assume
form: assumed
form: assume
form: assumed
form: assume
form: -
form: assuming
form: assumed
Etymology: From Latin assūmō (“accept, take”), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + sūmō (“take up, assume”).
Senses: examples: text: We assume that, as her parents were dentists, she knows quite a bit about dentistry.
text: Levelling of ME /irC/ and /urC/, which Orton assumes for the whole of the North (S. Durham §§411-13), has not taken place in Dent and S.We, where ME /urC/ remains (4:46).
ref: 1967, Bertil Hedevind, The Dialect of Dentdale in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Uppsala: Appelbergs Boktryckeri AB, § 4.8, page 98:
text: Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.
ref: 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
glosses: To authenticate by means of belief; to surmise; to suppose to be true, especially without proof
examples: text: Mr. Jones will assume the position of a lifeguard until a proper replacement is found.
text: Trembling they stand while Jove assumes the throne.
ref: 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book I”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
text: Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
text: His unruly hair was slicked down with water, and as Jessamy introduced him to Miss Brindle his face assumed a cherubic innocence which would immediately have aroused the suspicions of anyone who knew him.
ref: 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 96:
text: So while Ralph generally seems to inhabit a different, more glorious and joyful universe than everyone else here his yearning and heartbreak are eminently relateable. Ralph sometimes appears to be a magically demented sprite who has assumed the form of a boy, but he’s never been more poignantly, nakedly, movingly human than he is here.
ref: 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
glosses: To take on a position, duty or form
examples: text: He assumed an air of indifference.
text: Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
text: ambition assuming the mask of religion.
ref: a. 1809,Beilby Porteus, sermon
glosses: To adopt a feigned quality or manner; to claim without right; to arrogate
examples: text: The sixth was a young knight of lesser renown and lower rank, assumed into that honorable company.
ref: 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
glosses: To receive, adopt (a person)
glosses: To adopt (an idea or cause)
Derived terms: assumable
assume room temperature
assume the mantle
assume the position
coassume
just assume
misassume
preassume
reassume
when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me
Related terms: assuming
assumption
assumptive