Library / English Dictionary

SUPPOSITION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The cognitive process of supposing

Synonyms:

supposal; supposition

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("supposition" is a kind of...):

conjecture (reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "supposition"):

presupposition (the act of presupposing; a supposition made prior to having knowledge (as for the purpose of argument))

Derivation:

suppose (expect, believe, or suppose)

suppose (to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds)

suppositional (based primarily on surmise rather than adequate evidence)

Sense 2

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 ("supposition" 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 "supposition"):

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:

suppositional; suppositious; supposititious (based primarily on surmise rather than adequate evidence)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

Synonyms:

conjecture; guess; hypothesis; speculation; supposition; surmisal; surmise

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("supposition" is a kind of...):

opinion; view (a message expressing a belief about something; the expression of a belief that is held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "supposition"):

divination (successful conjecture by unusual insight or good luck)

Derivation:

suppose (express a supposition)

suppositional; suppositious; supposititious (based primarily on surmise rather than adequate evidence)

Credits

 Context examples: 

All this I was forced to define and describe by putting cases and making suppositions.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I have formed no supposition on the subject, sir; but I want to go on as usual for another month.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The suddenness of her reputed illness, the absence of her daughter, and probably of her other children, at the time—all favoured the supposition of her imprisonment.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The discovery suggests that the salty subsurface ocean of Europa may chemically resemble Earth's oceans more than previously thought, challenging decades of supposition about the composition of those waters.

(Table Salt Compound Spotted on Europa, NASA)

If in the supposition of his seeking to marry herself, his difficulties from his mother had seemed great, how much greater were they now likely to be, when the object of his engagement was undoubtedly inferior in connections, and probably inferior in fortune to herself.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

This is in the supposition of his attachment continuing what it now is; but I do not know that I expect it will; I do not look upon him to be quite the sort of man—I do not altogether build upon his steadiness or constancy.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I could not conceal from myself that I had done this, though for a reason very different from her supposition.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was keenly on the alert, therefore, for whatever would bear out this supposition, and I examined the room narrowly for anything in the shape of a hiding-place.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It is the one quality which Gregory lacks. We imagined what might have happened, acted upon the supposition, and find ourselves justified. Let us proceed.”

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, Watson, it is on the face of it a not impossible supposition.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)