supposing

1. 1
   conjunction

   Introduces a hypothetical situation or condition, much as if does, sometimes followed by that.

   Supposing that the train is delayed, we can always wait at the cafe.

   Supposing everyone agreed, the plan could still fail for other reasons.

   Similarif

   Note

   A conditional that often stands on its own as a reply, raising a doubt about someone else's plan: Let's go swimming. Supposing there are 'gators. The verb can stay in the present (are) or shift back (were) to make the case sound more remote. Flora Annie Steel's "The Three Sillies" stacks one supposing on another until the chain of worries becomes comic.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of suppose.

   Rather than supposing the project had failed, she asked the team for an update.

   Supposing too much about other people's motives often leads a person into error.

   Note

   Here suppose works fully as a verb. It takes an object or a clause, and it follows be in the progressive. The same spelling does two other jobs: the countable noun, which has a plural (supposings), and the conditional conjunction. To tell the verb from the conjunction, look for someone doing the supposing. She was supposing has a subject; Supposing it rains has none.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of forming a supposition: taking something to be true without firm proof.

   Her endless supposing about the future left her constantly anxious.

   The whole case rested on careful supposing rather than on hard evidence.

   Similarspeculation, conjecture, guesswork

   Note

   The gerund has hardened into a true noun, one that can be counted. Supposings are separate guesses, each one a small act of imagining. In The Dublin University Magazine of 1837 they stand in a row with suspicions, doubts and prognostications, which is the kind of company the word keeps. In the singular it names the activity in general, as in endless supposing about the future.

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