presume
to take for granted, assume, or suppose: I presume you're tired after your drive.
Law. to assume as true in the absence of proof to the contrary.
to undertake with unwarrantable boldness.
to undertake (to do something) without right or permission: to presume to speak for another.
to take something for granted; suppose.
to act or proceed with unwarrantable or impertinent boldness.
to go too far in acting unwarrantably or in taking liberties (usually followed by on or upon): Do not presume upon his tolerance.
Origin of presume
1Other words for presume
Other words from presume
- pre·sum·ed·ly [pri-zoo-mid-lee], /prɪˈzu mɪd li/, adverb
- pre·sum·er, noun
- un·pre·sumed, adjective
Words Nearby presume
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use presume in a sentence
The next month she married the man who, it is safe to presume, was her final husband.
But it is a mistake to presume that because these voters are Obama loyalists they are Democratic Party loyalists.
Is This the Beginning of the End for Blacks and Dems? | Keli Goff | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI presume most Republicans will be clever enough to mute impeachment talk before November.
Somebody (a monk, I presume) has put a dummy dressed in a guard's uniform inside.
Pablo Escobar’s Private Prison Is Now Run by Monks for Senior Citizens | Jeff Campagna | June 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHow far that may be is unclear, though we can only presume that it would involve jail time for those tracked down.
Can a Tweet Put You in Prison? It Certainly Will in the UK | Michael Moynihan | January 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
I presume the twenty-five or thirty miles at this end is unhealthy, even for natives, but it surely need not be so.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyI presume this path does not extend many miles without meeting impediments.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyI presume there will be more middling and half middling yields within twenty miles of Paris than in all Belgium.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyThat Lannes would have emerged superior to these trials his previous career affords strong reason to presume.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonI presume you know that Maria Theresa was a first-rate soldier; or, at least, she had the happy art of finding them.
British Dictionary definitions for presume
/ (prɪˈzjuːm) /
(when tr, often takes a clause as object) to take (something) for granted; assume
(when tr, often foll by an infinitive) to take upon oneself (to do something) without warrant or permission; dare: do you presume to copy my work?
(intr; foll by on or upon) to rely or depend: don't presume on his agreement
law to take as proved until contrary evidence is produced
Origin of presume
1Derived forms of presume
- presumedly (prɪˈzjuːmɪdlɪ), adverb
- presumer, noun
- presuming, adjective
- presumingly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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