Adjacent Words

Supposition definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUPPOSI'TION, n. The act of laying down, imagining or admitting as true or existing, what is known not to be true, or what is not proved.
1. The position of something known not to be true or not proved; hypothesis.
This is only an infallibility upon supposition that if a thing be true, it is impossible to be false.
2. Imagination; belief without full evidence.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence [syn: guess, conjecture, supposition, surmise, surmisal, speculation, hypothesis]
2: a hypothesis that is taken for granted; "any society is built upon certain assumptions" [syn: assumption, supposition, supposal]
3: the cognitive process of supposing [syn: supposition, supposal]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English supposicioun, from Anglo-French supposicion, from Late Latin supposition-, suppositio, from Latin, act of placing beneath, from supponere Date: 15th century 1. something that is supposed ; hypothesis 2. the act of supposing • suppositional adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a fact or idea etc. supposed. 2 the act or an instance of supposing. Derivatives: suppositional adj.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Supposition Sup`po*si"tion, n. [F. supposition, L. suppositio a placing under, a substitution, fr. supponere, suppositium, to put under, to substitute. The word has the meaning corresponding to suppose. See Sub-, and Position.] 1. The act of supposing, laying down, imagining, or considering as true or existing, what is known not to be true, or what is not proved. 2. That which is supposed; hypothesis; conjecture; surmise; opinion or belief without sufficient evidence. This is only an infallibility upon supposition that if a thing be true, it is imposible to be false. --Tillotson. He means are in supposition. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(suppositions) 1. A supposition is an idea or statement which someone believes or assumes to be true, although they may have no evidence for it. (FORMAL) There's a popular supposition that we're publicly funded but the bulk of our money comes from competitive contracts... = assumption N-COUNT: oft N that 2. You can describe someone's ideas or statements as supposition if you disapprove of the fact that they have no evidence to support them. The report has been rejected by the authorities, who said much of it was based on supposition or inaccuracy. [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Surmise, conjecture, presumption. 2. Hypothesis, postulate, assumed position. 3. Doubt, uncertainty.

Moby Thesaurus

allegory, allusion, apprehension, apriorism, arcane meaning, assumption, axiom, belief, coloration, conceit, concept, conception, conjecture, connotation, fancy, guesswork, hint, hypothesis, idea, image, imago, implication, implied meaning, import, impression, inference, innuendo, intellectual object, intimation, ironic suggestion, meaning, memory-trace, mental image, mental impression, metaphorical sense, notion, nuance, observation, occult meaning, opinion, overtone, perception, perhaps, posit, postulate, postulation, postulatum, premise, presumption, presupposal, presupposition, proposal, proposition, recept, reflection, representation, sentiment, set of postulates, speculation, subsense, subsidiary sense, suggestion, supposal, suppose, supposing, surmise, symbolism, theory, thesis, thought, tinge, touch, undercurrent, undermeaning, undertone, working hypothesis