# assumption

Pronunciation: say "uh-SUMP-shuhn" /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/

## Noun

1. A proposition taken to be true and accepted without proof; the thing that is supposed.
   - Simple: Something you believe is true without checking or proving it.
   - _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._
2. The act of taking something for granted, or supposing it to be true without proof.
   - Simple: The act of believing something is true without any 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._
3. The act of taking something upon oneself, such as a role, duty, or power; a taking up or adopting.
   - Simple: The act of taking something on yourself, such as a job, duty, or power.
   - _His assumption of the throne surprised the entire court._
   - _The assumption of command fell to the senior officer after the captain fell ill._
4. A Christian festival held on August 15 honoring the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
   - Simple: A Christian holiday on August 15 that celebrates Mary, the mother of Jesus, being taken up 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._
5. In religious belief, the carrying up of a person from earth into heaven.
   - Simple: The act of taking a person up into heaven.
   - _Scripture describes the assumption of Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind._
   - _The fresco depicts the assumption of the prophet into the clouds._
6. In a categorical syllogism, the minor or second proposition, which combines with the major premise to yield the conclusion.
   - Simple: In logic, the second of two statements that together lead to a conclusion.
   - _In that syllogism, the assumption supplies the minor term found in the conclusion._
   - _He questioned the assumption rather than the major premise._

## 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.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/assumption (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).