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ASSUMPTION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of taking possession of or power over something
Example:
he acquired all the company's assets for ten million dollars and the assumption of the company's debts
Synonyms:
assumption; laying claim
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("assumption" is a kind of...):
acquisition (the act of contracting or assuming or acquiring possession of something)
Derivation:
assume (seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession)
assume (take on as one's own the expenses or debts of another person)
assume (take on titles, offices, duties, responsibilities)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The act of assuming or taking for granted
Example:
your assumption that I would agree was unwarranted
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("assumption" is a kind of...):
act; deed; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assumption"):
position (the act of positing; an assumption taken as a postulate or axiom)
Derivation:
assume (take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Audacious (even arrogant) behavior that you have no right to
Example:
he despised them for their presumptuousness
Synonyms:
assumption; effrontery; presumption; presumptuousness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("assumption" is a kind of...):
audaciousness; audacity (aggressive boldness or unmitigated effrontery)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assumption"):
uppishness; uppityness (assumption of airs beyond one's station)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A hypothesis that is taken for granted
Example:
any society is built upon certain assumptions
Synonyms:
assumption; supposal; supposition
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("assumption" is a kind of...):
hypothesis; possibility; theory (a tentative insight into the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assumption"):
conclusion (an intuitive assumption)
base; basis; cornerstone; foundation; fundament; groundwork (the fundamental assumptions from which something is begun or developed or calculated or explained)
given; precondition; presumption (an assumption that is taken for granted)
basic assumption; constatation; self-evident truth (an assumption that is basic to an argument)
Derivation:
assume (take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn
Example:
on the assumption that he has been injured we can infer that he will not play
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("assumption" is a kind of...):
posit; postulate ((logic) a proposition that is accepted as true in order to provide a basis for logical reasoning)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "assumption"):
major premise; major premiss (the premise of a syllogism that contains the major term (which is the predicate of the conclusion))
minor premise; minor premiss; subsumption (the premise of a syllogism that contains the minor term (which is the subject of the conclusion))
thesis (an unproved statement put forward as a premise in an argument)
condition; precondition; stipulation (an assumption on which rests the validity or effect of something else)
scenario (a postulated sequence of possible events)
Derivation:
assume (take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof)
Sense 6
Meaning:
(Christianity) the taking up of the body and soul of the Virgin Mary when her earthly life had ended
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("Assumption" is a kind of...):
miracle (a marvellous event manifesting a supernatural act of a divine agent)
Domain category:
Christian religion; Christianity (a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior)
Derivation:
assume (take up someone's soul into heaven)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Celebration in the Roman Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary's being taken up into heaven when her earthly life ended; corresponds to the Dormition in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Synonyms:
Assumption; Assumption of Mary; August 15
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
Hypernyms ("Assumption" is a kind of...):
holy day of obligation (a day when Catholics must attend Mass and refrain from servile work, and Episcopalians must take Communion)
Holonyms ("Assumption" is a part of...):
Aug; August (the month following July and preceding September)
Context examples:
The fundamental assumptions underlying an explanation or a relation that provide the foundation for something.
(Basis, NCI Thesaurus)
In recent years, however, as they began to realize that pollen particles were not as sturdy as they once thought, they have been rethinking their old assumptions.
(Estimating how pollen particles in the atmosphere influence climate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Confirming this assumption in principle requires more powerful space telescopes than are currently available.
(Massive Dead Disk Galaxy Challenges Theories of Galaxy Evolution, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Saturn will win this conversation, so double-check all your assumptions and wait a few days before you want to swing into action
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Judge Blount recovered himself and attempted to go on, addressing himself to Martin with an assumption of politeness that the latter understood was for the benefit of the ladies.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Their method was one of assertion, assumption, and denunciation.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
The study’s predictions are based on an assumption that there is no reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and that no improvements take place to curb the effects of climate change.
(Study: Climate Change Will Bring 50-Fold Rise in Europe Weather-related Deaths, VOA News)
The predictions vary widely depending on assumptions about how plants respond to climate.
(What's killing trees during droughts?, National Science Foundation)
When the researchers changed only the amount of GAGs these native valve cells were exposed to, while keeping all other conditions the same, they observed surprising results that challenged previous assumptions.
(New Hope for Stopping An Understudied Heart Disease in Its Tracks, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
The study used data from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to forecast ocean acidification under several CO2 emission assumption scenarios, looking at changes in calcium carbonate saturation.
(Marine organisms in Southern Ocean will face shallower zone for life, National Science Foundation)
