• Suppose

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /səˈpəʊz/
    • US IPA: /səˈpoÊŠz/
    • Rhymes: -əʊz

    Origin

    French supposer; prefix sub- under + poser to place; - corresponding in meaning to Latin supponere, suppositum, to put under, to substitute, falsify, counterfeit. See pose.

    Full definition of suppose

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To take for granted; to conclude, with less than absolute supporting data; to believe.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 15, ‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! … What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’
    2. Suppose that A implies B and B implies C. Then A implies C.
    3. (transitive) To theorize or hypothesize.
      • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 5, Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. … When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
      • 2013-09-06, David Cox, Celebrity rules even Hawking's universe, Just what is supposed to be wrong with the pursuit of fame is not always made clear. Plato disapproved of competition for praise on the grounds that it would tempt the great to bend to the will of the crowd. It is hard to argue with that, and social degradation remains a fear.
    4. I suppose we all agree that this is the best solution.
    5. To imagine; to believe; to receive as true.
      • ShakespeareHow easy is a bush supposed a bear!
      • Bible, 2 Sam. xiii. 32Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men, the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead.
    6. To require to exist or to be true; to imply by the laws of thought or of nature.Purpose supposes foresight.
      • Female QuixoteOne falsehood always supposes another, and renders all you can say suspected.
    7. To put by fraud in the place of another.

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