DictionaryAI

assume

verb
uh-SOOM/əˈsjuːm/uh-SYOOM/əˈsjuːm/

Formsassumes, assuming, assumed

5 meanings of assume

Practice

  1. 1
    supposeverbtransitive
    To suppose that something is true, especially without proof.

    We assume the data is accurate unless our tests prove otherwise.

    She assumed he would be late, as usual.

    UsageUsually followed by a clause, with or without that: I assume (that) you've eaten. Also assuming that for a condition.

    Similarsuppose, presume, think, believe, expect

    Note

    Supposing as a kind of accepting: Latin assūmō meant "accept, take," and here what is accepted is a claim not yet proved. In scholarly prose it can mean to posit a hypothesis: Bertil Hedevind writes of a sound change "which Orton assumes for the whole of the North," a claim his own Dentdale findings then contradict.

  2. 2
    take onverbtransitive
    To start holding a role or bearing a responsibility, or to come to have a particular shape or form.

    He will assume command of the regiment next spring.

    In the fall the leaves assume shades of red and gold.

    UsageUsually with a role or duty: assume command, assume office, assume responsibility for something.

    Similartake, adopt, acquire

    Oppositerelinquish, resign

    Note

    Here the Latin "take" is literal: one takes up an office, a throne, a shape. Pope's Iliad has Jove assuming the throne, and the object can just as well be a look. Barbara Sleigh writes of a boy whose face "assumed a cherubic innocence." That use sits close to the feigned-manner meaning, because a face can take on an expression honestly or put one on for show, and only context decides which.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  3. 3
    put on falselyverbtransitive
    To put on a false quality or manner, or to claim something without any right to it.

    Politicians often assume a humility they rarely possess.

    The impostor assumed a title that was never his.

    UsageUsually with a manner or identity: assume an air of calm, assume a false name.

    Similarfeign, affect, fake, usurp

    Note

    Pretense is the point now, and the classic line is Hamlet's advice in Shakespeare: "Assume a virtue, if you have it not." The usual objects are things worn on the surface, such as an air, a mask or a virtue, as in Beilby Porteus's "ambition assuming the mask of religion." When the object is a right or title, the near-synonym is arrogate, and the verb carries a charge of overreaching.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet gives the advice "Assume a virtue, if you have it not." internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
    • The quotation "ambition assuming the mask of religion" is attributed to Beilby Porteus. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    verb
    To take up and support an idea or cause.
  2. 5
    verb
    To receive or take up a person, as into a group, family, or higher place.

Practice

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Origin

Latin joined ad- ("to, towards, at") to sūmō ("take up, assume") to make assūmō ("accept, take"), the source of the English word.