DictionaryAI

suppose

verb
Saysuh-POHZ/səˈpoʊz/UK/səˈpəʊz/

Formssupposes, supposing, supposed

5 meanings of suppose

Practice

  1. 1
    take for grantedverbtransitive or intransitive
    To believe, as your own guess, that a fact or situation is probably so, though you are not sure of it.

    Most people suppose that the meeting will be canceled.

    He is honest enough, I suppose.

    UsagePolite phrases: I suppose so agrees half-heartedly; I don't suppose you could help? softens a request.

    Similarassume

  2. 2
    for argument's sakeverbtransitive
    To put forward something as a theory or hypothesis for the sake of reasoning about it.

    To test the model, suppose the town's population doubles every ten years, and then work out how many schools it will need.

    Suppose two trains leave the station at exactly the same time.

    UsageOften starts a sentence: Suppose two trains…, Let's suppose…. Different from be supposed to, meaning expected or believed.

    Similarhypothesize, posit, postulate, imagine

    Note

    Reasoning's invitation to pretend: the imperative Suppose that… sets up a premise, and what follows is worked out from it, true or not. Unlike the believing sense, the premise need not be believed. The speaker simply lays a case down for argument.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    Of an idea, claim, or situation: to depend on something else already being true, so that it could not hold or exist without it.

    An effect supposes a cause that brought it about.

    Such conclusions suppose premises that no one has actually proven.

    Similarimply, require, entail, presuppose

    Note

    Here the subject is an idea or a fact, not a person: purpose supposes foresight, and an effect supposes a cause. Nobody does the supposing. One thing simply cannot hold without the other. Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote (1752) gives a moral version: 'One falsehood always supposes another.' The closer modern word is presuppose.

    Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To reckon or regard someone or something as being a particular thing.
    [He] keeps you from the honors of a Queene, Being ſuppoſde his worthleſſe Concubine.
    c. 1587, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part
  2. 5
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To fraudulently substitute one person or thing in the place of another.
    Note

    The Latin meaning behind the word surfaces here. Supponere meant 'to put under' and also 'to substitute, falsify, counterfeit'. In John Aubrey's Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, written in the 1680s, a water-monster steals a newborn and 'supposeth another in its place'. This sense is obsolete, but the adjective supposititious, 'falsely substituted', still carries it.

    Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Latin supponere meant to put under, substitute, falsify, or counterfeit. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Aubrey wrote Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme. wellcomecollection.org
    • The work was written in the 1680s; this is a composition date, not its publication date. en.wikipedia.org
    • Aubrey's work describes a water-monster stealing a newborn and contains the exact words 'supposeth another in its place'. scribd.com
    • The adjective supposititious has the meaning falsely substituted. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of suppose apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Old French supposer, built from the prefix sub- ('under') and poser ('to place'), was borrowed into Middle English as supposen. In meaning it matches Latin supponere ('to put under, to substitute, falsify, counterfeit').