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suppose
has definitions from the field of logic
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[ verb ] express a supposition
Synonyms Examples "Let us say that he did not tell the truth" "Let's say you had a lot of money--what would you do?" Used in print ("Editorials"...)Suppose he did lie beside Lenin , would it be permanent ? (Kenneth Hoffman and Ray Kunze, Linear Al...)Conversely , suppose that �a is in the null_space of * * f . Suppose that the minimal polynomial for T decomposes over F into a product of linear polynomials . Now suppose that we also have * * f where D ' is diagonalizable , N ' is nilpotent , and * * f . (Frederick Mosteller et al., Probability with...)More generally , suppose that an experiment consists_of a number of independent trials , that each trial results in either a `` success '' or a `` non success '' ( `` failure '' ) , and that the probability of success remains constant from trial to trial . |
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[ verb ] expect, believe, or suppose
Examples "I imagine she earned a lot of money with her new novel" "I thought to find her in a bad state" "he didn't think to find her in the kitchen" "I guess she is angry at me for standing her up" Used in print (The Philadelphia Inquirer,...)I suppose I am missing some elementary point but I honestly cannot see how two wrongs can make a right ! (National Review, xi: 26...)If the raw population figures are crucially relevant , then it is idle to think_of liberation , as idle as to suppose that Poland might liberate Russia . (The Nation, 193: 16...)The publication last July of the party 's Draft Program - that blueprint for the `` transition to communism '' - had led the uninitiated to suppose that this Twenty-second_Congress would be a sort_of apotheosis of the Khrushchev regime , a solemn consecration of ideas which had , in_fact , been current over the last three or four years ( i. e. , since the defeat of the `` anti-party group '' ) in_all theoretical party journals . (Ann Ritner, Seize a Nettle....)The East was popularly supposed to have got the country into war and into depression , dragging the west along ; and now the East was creating government agencies for which the West doubtless would have to pay . (Richard Tiernan, "Land of the Silver Dollar,"...)`` I do n't know much about them '' , Owen admitted , `` but I suppose they have their own religion and they probably resent outsiders coming_in and telling them what to do and what not to do '' . |
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[ verb ] to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
Examples : "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps." Used in print (The Wall Street Journal,...)Suppose , says Dr._Lyttleton , the proton has a slightly greater charge than the electron ( so slight it is presently immeasurable ) . (Perry Miller "Theodore Parker: Apostasy within Liberalism"...)Suppose they both had ventured into realms which their colleagues thought infidel : (Ernest Becker, Zen: A Rational Critique. New York: W.W....)One patriarch is supposed to have relegated sacred scriptures for use in an outhouse . (William H. Ittelson and Samuel B. Kutash,...)One subject spontaneously asked ( after her arm had finally risen ) , `` Do you suppose I was unconsciously keeping it down before '' ? |
| 4 |
[ verb ] take for granted or as a given; suppose beforehand
Synonyms Examples "I presuppose that you have done your work" Related terms |
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[ verb ] (logic) require as a necessary antecedent or precondition; in logic
Synonyms Examples "This step presupposes two prior ones" |
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