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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To take upon oneself: assume responsibility; assume another's debts.
  2. v. To undertake the duties of (an office): assumed the presidency.
  3. v. To take on; adopt: "The god assumes a human form” ( John Ruskin).
  4. v. To put on; don: The queen assumed a velvet robe.
  5. v. To affect the appearance or possession of; feign.
  6. v. To take for granted; suppose: assumed that prices would rise. See Synonyms at presume.
  7. v. To take over without justification; seize: assume control.
  8. v. To take up or receive into heaven.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To take into relation or association; adopt; take in; admit: as, “Enoch and Elias were assumed up into heaven,” Abp. Abbot. See assumption, 5.
  2. To take upon one's self; undertake: as, to assume the responsibility of a proceeding; to assume office; to assume an obligation.
  3. To take or put on one's self; invest one's self with: as, to assume the garb of a mendicant, or the figure of an animal; to assume a severe aspect; “to assume man's nature,”
  4. To apply to one's self; appropriate.
  5. To take for granted or without proof; suppose as a fact; postulate: as, to assume a principle in reasoning.
  6. To take fictitiously; pretend to possess; take in appearance: as, to assume the garb of humility.
  7. To claim.
  8. Synonyms To affect, feign, counterfeit.
  9. To be arrogant; claim more than is due; presume.

Wiktionary

  1. v. To authenticate by means of belief; to surmise; to suppose to be true, especially without proof.
  2. v. To take on a position or duty.
  3. v. To adopt an idea or cause.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To take to or upon one's self; to take formally and demonstratively; sometimes, to appropriate or take unjustly.
  2. v. To take for granted, or without proof; to suppose as a fact; to suppose or take arbitrarily or tentatively.
  3. v. To pretend to possess; to take in appearance.
  4. v. To receive or adopt.
  5. v. To be arrogant or pretentious; to claim more than is due.
  6. v. To undertake, as by a promise.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. occupy or take on
  2. v. take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof
  3. v. take on as one's own the expenses or debts of another person
  4. v. take on titles, offices, duties, responsibilities
  5. v. make a pretence of
  6. v. take up someone's soul into heaven
  7. v. take on a certain form, attribute, or aspect
  8. v. put clothing on one's body
  9. v. seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession

Etymologies

  1. Middle English assumen, from Latin assūmere : ad-, ad- + sūmere, to take; see em- in Indo-European roots.

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • naomatsuura I'm assuming you didn't get towed from home. Sep 1, 2009

  • chained_bear Oh. Well. *stares at ceiling, hums* Oct 12, 2007

  • reesetee OH! I get it now. Sorry, uselessness--a little slow on the uptake. :-)

    C_b, click the link on your name down there. You'll get it. And if you don't, never mind.

    Npydyuan--thanks. It was an accident, though. Oct 12, 2007

  • npydyuan "How can it be an ass if it doesn't have "ass" in it?"

    Nice koan. Oct 12, 2007

  • chained_bear Oom is already an ass...? And how, pray, does that involve me?

    WAIT! Don't answer that. Oct 12, 2007

  • uselessness By ass I mean "tail end of something, in this case, words." Nevermind. Bad joke. *shame*

    I do feel sorry for Ming, though, whoever that is. Oct 12, 2007

  • reesetee It's already what? An ass? How can it be an ass if it doesn't have "ass" in it?

    Oh God. I'm turning into chained_bear. ;-> Oct 12, 2007

  • uselessness But oom is already one, for words like gloom and room and bloom. Oct 12, 2007

  • yarb Surely assuming makes an ass out of u and ming? Oct 12, 2007

  • reesetee Unless you can't spell. Then it makes an ass out of oom. Oct 12, 2007

  • uselessness Doing this, more often than not, makes an ass out of (yo)u and me. Oct 12, 2007

‘assume’ has been looked up 2470 times, loved by 1 person, added to 18 lists, commented on 11 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.