assumption
Pluralassumptions
- 1A proposition taken to be true and accepted without proof; the thing that is supposed.
The whole argument rests on the assumption that prices will keep rising.
The committee built its plan on a few shaky assumptions about future demand.
Similarpremise, supposition, hypothesis, presupposition, postulate
Note
Where the act of supposing is the mental step, this is its product, and it can be counted: people make assumptions, state them and rest arguments on them. The Journal of Aesthetic Education (1976) speaks of arguments that must make "some unargued evaluative assumptions," meaning that every chain of reasoning starts from something it does not defend. The pattern the assumption that… introduces what is supposed.
- 2The act of taking something for granted, or supposing it to be true without proof.
Critics challenged the easy assumption that the policy would pay for itself.
His assumption of her guilt, made before any evidence appeared, was deeply unfair.
Similarpresumption, supposition, belief, expectation, conjecture
- 3The act of taking something upon oneself, such as a role, duty, or power; a taking up or adopting.
His assumption of the throne surprised the entire court.
The assumption of command fell to the senior officer after the captain fell ill.
Similaraccession, acceptance, adoption
Oppositeabdication, relinquishment, resignation
Note
Here the Latin root shows most plainly: assumptio meant "a taking up, adoption," the same idea behind the verb assume. The noun nearly always takes of, as in his assumption of secretarial duties. Watch what follows of, because the "taking for granted" meaning uses the same pattern. An assumption of guilt is something supposed, not something taken on.
- 4A Christian festival held on August 15 honoring the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
Pilgrims gather at the cathedral to celebrate the Assumption each August.
The Assumption falls on the fifteenth of August in the Western church.
Note
The feast is written with a capital letter and almost always with the: the Assumption. It appears in the liturgical calendars of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, and in many regions it ranks as a holy day of obligation. Keep it distinct from the taking up itself. One names the event, and the other names the day that commemorates it.
- 5In religious belief, the carrying up of a person from earth into heaven.
Scripture describes the assumption of Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind.
The fresco depicts the assumption of the prophet into the clouds.
Similarascension
Note
A church word first: Medieval Latin assumptio meant "a taking up into heaven." William Tyndale, writing in 1528, spells it assumpcion and puts "the assumpcion of oure ladi" beside purgatory and limbo patrum. He is mocking how one text can be made to prove almost anything. Applied to Mary, the event gives its name to the August feast.
- 6In a categorical syllogism, the minor or second proposition, which combines with the major premise to yield the conclusion.
In that syllogism, the assumption supplies the minor term found in the conclusion.
He questioned the assumption rather than the major premise.
Note
Logic kept the Latin meaning intact, since assumptio already meant "the minor proposition of a syllogism" in Latin. It is the premise that contains the minor term, and it is conventionally stated after the major premise. In a logic text, questioning the assumption means attacking that second step, not some unstated belief. Avoid confusing it with a thing supposed, the everyday sense.
Practice
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Origin
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"). It is a doublet of assumptio and is related to assume.