posit

[ poz-it ]

verb (used with object)

1. to place, put, or set.
2. to lay down or assume as a fact or principle; postulate.

noun

1. something that is posited; an assumption; postulate.

posit

/ ˈpɒzɪt /

verb

1. to assume or put forward as fact or the factual basis for an argument; postulate
2. to put in position

noun

1. a fact, idea, etc, that is posited; assumption

Word History and Origins

Origin of posit¹

First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin positus, past participle of pōnere “to place, put”

Word History and Origins

Origin of posit¹

C17: from Latin pōnere to place, position

Example Sentences

To posit that the war brings us closer to faith is a sleight of hand that makes fools of us all.

From The Daily Beast

Simbikangwa denies any involvement and his lawyers posit their client was unaware of the massacre taking place.

From The Daily Beast

We have to erase history and posit a Palestinian people that is, somehow, essentially different from other people.

From The Daily Beast

Advocates of intervention may want to posit the U.S. as the world's police.

From The Daily Beast

You posit that talking about the aesthetics of scent in traditional aesthetic terms makes scent subservient to other disciplines.

From The Daily Beast

Nos duo Societate tuguriolum habemus ligneum, in quo vix posit mens commouere nos possumus.

From Project Gutenberg

We must posit these three genera (essence, movement, and stability) because intelligence thinks each of them separately.

From Project Gutenberg

Ibn Daud does not make use of creation to prove the existence of God, but neither does he posit eternal motion as Aristotle does.

From Project Gutenberg

To posit nature by thought is to posit something irreducible to thought and therefore unthinkable.

From Project Gutenberg

They say they took it from August 14 for a month, and paid a dee-posit, and they was to come in to-day.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• hypothesize
• postulate
• presuppose