assumption

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English assumpcioun, from Medieval Latin assumptio (“a taking up (into heaven)”) and Latin assumptio (“a taking up, adoption, the minor proposition of a syllogism”). Doublet of assumptio; see assume.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

assumption (countable and uncountable, plural assumptions)

  1. The act of assuming, or taking to or upon oneself; the act of taking up or adopting.
    His assumption of secretarial duties was timely.
  2. The act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; a supposition; an unwarrantable claim.
    Their assumption of his guilt disqualified them from jury duty.
  3. The thing supposed; a postulate, or proposition assumed; a supposition.
    • 1976, “The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Volume 10”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎[1]:
      No doubt a finite evaluative argument must make some unargued evaluative assumptions, just as finite factual arguments must make some unargued factual assumptions.
  4. (logic) The minor or second proposition in a categorical syllogism.
  5. The taking of a person up into heaven.
    • 1528 October 12 (Gregorian calendar), William Tyndale, “William Tyndale other wise Called William Hychins vnto the Reader”, in The Obediẽce of a Christen Man […], [Antwerp: Johannes Hoochstraten], →OCLC, folio xix, recto:
      Of vvhat texte thou proveſt hell / vvill a nother prove purgatory / a nother lymbo patrum / and a nother the aſſumpcion of oure ladi: And a nother ſhall prove of the ſame texte that an Ape hath a tayle.
  6. A festival in honor of the ascent of the Virgin Mary into heaven, celebrated on 15 August.
  7. (rhetoric) Assumptio.

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Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Chambers Dictionary, 9th Ed., 2003
  2. ^ “assumption”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “assumption”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
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