posit
Americanverb (used with object)
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posits,
present (3rd person singular)
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posited,
past participle, past
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positing
present participle
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to place, put, or set.
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to lay down or assume as a fact or principle; postulate.
noun
verb
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to assume or put forward as fact or the factual basis for an argument; postulate
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to put in position
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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positsimple
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positssimple
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have positedperfect
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has positedperfect
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am positingprogressive
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are positingprogressive
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is positingprogressive
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have been positingperfect progressive
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has been positingperfect progressive
Past
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positedsimple
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had positedperfect
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was positingprogressive
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were positingprogressive
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had been positingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of posit
First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin positus, past participle of pōnere “to place, put”
Explanation
To posit something is to assume or suggest that it is true. You can posit an idea or opinion. When you posit, you submit an idea or give an opinion. Scientists posit many ideas — called hypotheses — that they then try to prove or disprove through experimentation and research. In science, you hear about positing a lot, and the same is true in math and logic. When you say "If X, then Y" you're positing a proposition. Positing can also mean to put something somewhere firmly — this means to deposit, fix, or situate.
Vocabulary lists containing posit
"This Is Water" by David Foster Wallace
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"What Is Cultural Identity?"
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Big Science
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I only posit that it’s important to understand art — especially contentious art about pertinent crises — on a cellular level to learn what it, and our responses to it, can teach us.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
Martin, who made himself a household name in the States with English-language songs like “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and “She Bangs,” never tried to posit himself as a revolutionary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
Some are just ridiculous, as when advocates posit that the best way to evaluate an event’s likelihood is to see what gamblers with “skin in the game” are thinking about it.
From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2026
Strategists at 22V Research posit the rising 30-year yield is more reflective of longer-term fiscal and inflation risks than the fed-funds rate.
From Barron's ● Dec. 12, 2025
And let me now posit this: 'dignity7 has to do crucially with a butler's ability not to abandon the professional being he inhabits.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Every tweet is met with an infinite scroll of rejoinders; no observation she posits goes unpunished.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
Senhor José posits various reasons of his own—loneliness, a wish for change, a belief that he can save her from dusty obscurity—and the novel takes on the form of his mental equivocations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
As “Unzipped” posits, real authenticity comes at a cost — but it’s the rest of us who are paying the price.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2026
He posits that millions of Americans who were born in this country to parents without papers “have a strong moral claim to be able to remain in the land where they grew up.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
“Ah, but most of them are complacent,” Nansi posits.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Some experts have also posited that being rude to AI chatbots could adversely impact human communication, by seeping into how we talk to and treat others.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
“Her Private Hell” is not merely glittering debris, as some have posited, nor is it style over substance; it’s a campfire story told by Thatcher’s unearthly orator, with just as much chilling impact.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
In treatment, it was posited to us this way: How bizarre that we feel comfortable going up to people and talking to them about their bodies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Scientists have long posited the earliest water animals to transition to land had amphibious tadpole features, going through a metamorphosis akin to that of today's frogs.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
The gene, Schrödinger posited, had to be made of a peculiar kind of chemical; it had to be a molecule of contradictions.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Sheinbaum has sought to avoid confrontation with Trump while also positing herself as a defender of Mexican sovereignty.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Some seasoned startup investors had a more measured read, positing that Anthropic’s updated language was an effort to simplify its investor list as it prepares for an initial public offering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
He began to explore the role of pharmacology in treating depression, and in 1965 published a seminal paper positing that depression arose due to low levels of certain neurochemicals, highlighting the role of one, norepinephrine.
From Salon ● May 23, 2025
The former pop stars debuted the begrudgingly catchy bop — “an ode to boy bands from start to finish” — Tuesday along with what AAA is positing as a viral social media campaign.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
The theory neatly solves the grandfather paradox by positing separate universes in which each possible outcome exists, thereby avoiding a paradox.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
