Library / English Dictionary

PRESUME

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take liberties or act with too much confidence

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "presume" is one way to...):

act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

presumption (a kind of discourtesy in the form of an act of presuming)

presumption (audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof

Example:

I assume his train was late

Synonyms:

assume; presume; take for granted

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "presume" is one way to...):

anticipate; expect (regard something as probable or likely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "presume"):

presuppose; suppose (take for granted or as a given; suppose beforehand)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

presumption (a kind of discourtesy in the form of an act of presuming)

presumption ((law) an inference of the truth of a fact from other facts proved or admitted or judicially noticed)

presumption (an assumption that is taken for granted)

presumptive (affording reasonable grounds for belief or acceptance)

presumptive (having a reasonable basis for belief or acceptance)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Constitute reasonable evidence for

Example:

A restaurant bill presumes the consumption of food

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "presume" is one way to...):

bear witness; evidence; prove; show; testify (provide evidence for)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

presumptive (affording reasonable grounds for belief or acceptance)

presumptive (having a reasonable basis for belief or acceptance)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Take upon oneself; act presumptuously, without permission

Example:

How dare you call my lawyer?

Synonyms:

dare; make bold; presume

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "presume" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s INFINITIVE

Derivation:

presumption (a kind of discourtesy in the form of an act of presuming)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The scientists presumed ganglion cells would only respond to colors detected by nearby cones.

(New color vision pathway unveiled, NIH)

“This, I understand is your son’s room”—he pushed open the door—“and that, I presume, is the dressing-room in which he sat smoking when the alarm was given.”

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It had been, as he before presumed, too hasty a measure on Crawford's side, and time must be given to make the idea first familiar, and then agreeable to her.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He is a man whom I cannot presume to praise.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Elinor sighed over the fancied necessity of this; but to a man and a soldier she presumed not to censure it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Defined as patients with defined or presumed cardiac disease and one of the following: Class I: without limitations of physical activity.

(New York Heart Association Class, NCI Thesaurus)

A neoplasm or the cellar region presumed to be derived from Rathke's pouch epithelial cells.

(Mouse Craniopharyngioma, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

A finding associated with a patient with defined or presumed cardiac disease without limitations of physical activity.

(New York Heart Association Class I, NCI Thesaurus)

A finding associated with a patient with defined or presumed cardiac disease with slight limitation of physical activity.

(New York Heart Association Class II, NCI Thesaurus)

A unit of percentage measurement for quantitative evaluation of a forecasted or presumed value against the actual observation value.

(Percent of Predicted Value, NCI Thesaurus)