SUPPOSE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does suppose mean? 

• SUPPOSE (verb)
  The verb SUPPOSE has 5 senses:

1. express a supposition

2. expect, believe, or suppose

3. to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds

4. take for granted or as a given; suppose beforehand

5. require as a necessary antecedent or precondition

  Familiarity information: SUPPOSE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUPPOSE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they suppose    ... he / she / it supposes   
Past simple: supposed   
Past participle: supposed   
-ing form: supposing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Express a supposition

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

say; suppose

Context example:

Let's say you had a lot of money--what would you do?

Hypernyms (to "suppose" is one way to...):

speculate (talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They suppose that there was a traffic accident

Derivation:

supposal (a hypothesis that is taken for granted)

supposition (a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Expect, believe, or suppose

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

guess; imagine; opine; reckon; suppose; think

Context example:

I guess she is angry at me for standing her up

Hypernyms (to "suppose" is one way to...):

anticipate; expect (regard something as probable or likely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suppose"):

suspect (hold in suspicion; believe to be guilty)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

supposal; supposition (the cognitive process of supposing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

To believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

conjecture; hypothecate; hypothesise; hypothesize; speculate; suppose; theorise; theorize

Context example:

Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps

Hypernyms (to "suppose" is one way to...):

anticipate; expect (regard something as probable or likely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suppose"):

construct; reconstruct; retrace (reassemble mentally)

develop; explicate; formulate (elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

supposal; supposition (the cognitive process of supposing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Take for granted or as a given; suppose beforehand

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

presuppose; suppose

Context example:

I presuppose that you have done your work

Hypernyms (to "suppose" is one way to...):

assume; presume; take for granted (take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "suppose"):

posit; postulate (take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom)

premise; premiss (take something as preexisting and given)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 5

Meaning:

Require as a necessary antecedent or precondition

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

presuppose; suppose

Context example:

This step presupposes two prior ones

Hypernyms (to "suppose" is one way to...):

imply (suggest as a logically necessary consequence; in logic)

Domain category:

logic (the branch of philosophy that analyzes inference)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

I suppose he was afraid of finding it dull; but upon my word I should have thought we were lively enough at the Cottage for such a heart-broken man as Captain Benwick.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

‘I had better put my hat on, I suppose.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The lowest value of the range of statistical characteristics that are supposed to represent accepted standard, non-pathological pattern for particular laboratory result or other quantitative parameter.

(Lower Limit of Normal, NCI Thesaurus)

‘By your language, stranger, I suppose you are my countryman; are you French?’

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Meantime, he ran on, little supposing he was overheard.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Hormone diseases also occur if your body does not respond to hormones the way it is supposed to.

(Endocrine Diseases, NIH)

I heard her sweeping away; and soon after she was gone, I suppose I had a species of fit: unconsciousness closed the scene.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But she said she supposed that they knew the road, and would follow her, and she could not stay there all day waiting for them.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"I suppose there are," returned the Lion, "but I do not see any of them about."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I suppose you haven’t such a thing as a carriage in your stables?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)