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What is "assume"

Crossword clues for assume

assume
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
assume
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
acquire/assume significanceformal (= take on significance)
▪ As links with Europe continue to grow, language learning assumes even greater significance.
adopt/assume an identity (=give yourself a new identity )
▪ She assumed a false identity and went to live in South America.
assume commandformal (= start to be in charge of a group of people)
▪ He assumed command of all the troops in the Washington area.
assume epidemic etc proportionsformal (= become or seem very great)
▪ Unless you deal with it quickly, the damage may assume serious proportions.
assume importance (=become important)
▪ The town assumed importance once it was connected to the rail system.
assume liability (=take the responsibility for something, which you did not have before)
▪ You would then assume the tax liability for the account.
assume powerformal (= take power)
▪ He assumed power after the assassination of the former president.
assume/adopt a position formal (= move your body into a particular position)
▪ The patient should adopt this position for five minutes every half hour.
assumed name
▪ He’s been living in Peru under an assumed name.
it is a mistake to think/assume etc sth
▪ It would be a mistake to assume that all snakes are dangerous.
it is naive to think/suppose/assume etc
▪ It would be naive to think that this could solve all the area’s problems straight away.
it’s safe to say/assume (that)
▪ I think it’s safe to say that the future is looking pretty good.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
always
▪ I have always assumed that Brightside had it right and Dagenham was merely contributing a series of Gouldisms to the discussion.
▪ She has always assumed her regular place on the couch, the special place where the starters sit.
▪ She had always assumed that something would happen, sometime, to sweep away her marital comfort.
▪ I had always assumed teachers' salaries were generous, but Kierra corrects my impression.
▪ We have always assumed that animal protein was the necessary kind for human health.
▪ I had always assumed that this sort of civilized dismay at barbarism was the monopoly of our cause.
often
▪ In a commercial or industrial setting it is often assumed that organisations try to maximise profits as their main goal.
▪ But the fact is that the way we live our lives often assumes a belief about them, one way or another.
▪ The proper field of women psychologists is often assumed to be far from the heights of psychological theory.
▪ We often assume that those above us know much more than they do.
▪ The purer forms of objectivity do not always aid an investigation to the degree that is often assumed.
▪ The grant of a patent can too often assume a talismanic significance for those closely involved in its conception and development.
▪ Lauer often assumes hosting duties when Gumbel is on vacation.
■ NOUN
expression
▪ Oliver assumed an expression of extreme penitence.
▪ When they gave political responses, we may assume that the expression of political pride was spontaneous.
▪ He assumed a pained expression and averted his eyes.
▪ I assumed my best dumb-brunette expression when handing this on to Humber.
form
▪ These are taken-for-granted groupings which assume some form of unity within each category without ever clearly identifying the source of this unity.
▪ The gaunt faces beneath closely cropped heads and the young faces on emaciated bodies had began to assume form and substance.
▪ This was followed by intervention, by an ... intensification of the class struggle, which assumed the form of civil war.
▪ Her devotees could assume the form of horses and were also accused of riding men to death on their beds.
▪ But they can not assume their final adult form and breed unless they reach land.
▪ He would assume a new form and step into the ways of fatherhood.
▪ At this stage the cells had already assumed an epithelial form, but were not yet expressing the two marker proteins.
▪ Afterward, they assumed cockroach form and pestered the poor fellow throughout his lonely meal!
importance
▪ In the one-day game, the priority is to save every run, and it is the outfielder who assumes hey importance.
▪ It meant that at the moment of its founding, Atchison assumed importance as the eastern terminus of the overland stagecoach lines.
▪ If the farm has hill-grazing rights, these may assume an overriding importance in relation to other factors.
▪ So it must be assumed that the importance of marginal increments of all production is low and declining.
▪ Privately financed and provided group medical plans are assuming greater importance.
▪ This theological argument for differentiation was to assume the greatest importance in spreading the Copernican theory.
▪ In future economic efficiency was likely to assume as much importance as the technical side.
▪ Financial management is now assuming greater importance.
mantle
▪ The problem with all these calculations is they assume a homogenous chemical mantle.
▪ What would happen if this man were to assume the mantle of the most powerful person on earth?
▪ The rocks began to assume a mantle of translucent ice that dripped in grey icicles from overhangs.
▪ Because of his brother's hanging, he assumed the mantle of laibon.
▪ Chatri Sophonpanich, the second son, has now assumed his father's mantle.
▪ Joey held second spot for two laps before Robert assumed the mantle.
model
▪ The legal model assumes that the board of directors manages the ordinary business of the company.
▪ Such a model assumes that: 1.
▪ Women of colour who face racist practices can not be simply incorporated into models which assume white women as the norm.
▪ In his original model McKenzie assumed, for ease of calculation, that the lithosphere is stretched instantaneously.
▪ On their upper-range models at least, Mazda assume that you'd like those things.
▪ Decision-process models also assume that consumer learning and experience will build up and affect future purchase situations.
position
▪ It is lavishly illustrated and presented and has assumed a pre-eminent position in its field.
▪ She watched him assume the awkward position.
▪ In this passage, Berger has simply assumed that the platonist position has prevailed.
▪ The five-year MEng honours degree course is for particularly able students who expect to assume responsible positions in industry immediately after graduation.
▪ This seemed very Californian; assuming the Peace Position with my llama grazing by my side.
▪ We leave our classrooms, assemble in hallways, assume the proper position.
responsibility
▪ If they fail will they assume responsibility for the failure or blame some one else?
▪ And so we must assume responsibility, even for these.
▪ As head of CI5, Cowley had assumed the responsibility for the protection of the Colonel, a guest in the country.
▪ As a principal, he assumes responsibility for the performance of the entire transportation contract.
▪ The state is just assuming responsibility for building and repairing schools, which carries a billion-plus price tag.
▪ This remains the situation that social service departments will inherit in April 1993, when social services assume responsibility for private care.
role
▪ Furthermore, the Conservative Party was, it argued, the only party fit to assume this role.
▪ Concern continues about the inability of supervisors to fully assume their roles in making the team system work.
▪ In effect the exporter assumes the role of a buyer and has to market the counter-purchased goods.
▪ He had been to school one day and already he was using phrases and assuming roles that belonged to a different world.
▪ However, in order to do this, it follows that you must be versatile and able to assume many different roles.
▪ Sculley assumed the role of scoutmaster.
▪ For the first time in classical antiquity the nuclear family had assumed a central role in the politics of state.
▪ Dunaway next year will assume the role of movie producer.
■ VERB
let
▪ But let us assume that when we question him he proves not to have overlooked such dangers.
▪ And let it be assumed that as an alternative he might choose unchanged productivity which has left everyone employed.
▪ But let us assume that all of them do and hence must be memorized.
▪ Now let us assume that the money supply increases.
▪ For this section let us assume S-D-S preferences so that all households have the same tastes.
seem
▪ It would seem reasonable to assume that measures aimed at treating calculi in these patients may reduce the frequency of infection.
▪ It seems reasonable to assume that he used his science to determine the probable course of the history of the immediate future.
▪ It seems fair to assume that she will attract the attention of a goodly number of our countrymen.
▪ But they also say the United States seems to assume that it should not have to compete for the key posts.
▪ This seemed very Californian; assuming the Peace Position with my llama grazing by my side.
▪ McLanahan and Sandefur seem to assume, also, that only fathers can perform certain functions within the family.
▪ It seems reasonable to assume Fedorov will collect it, despite the danger.
▪ Ahmed seems to assume that this larger number has arisen by duplication from the n 1 -1 8 complex.
tend
▪ But both sides tend to assume that men keep things this way because they benefit so much.
▪ We tend to assume that everybody has a car these days and will be affected by these increases.
▪ Davis and Moore have tended to assume that the most highly rewarded positions are indeed the most important.
▪ Yet we tend to assume it is equal in all people.
▪ Textbooks and newspaper articles tend to assume that there are no changes in legislation or personal circumstances in order to illustrate a principle.
▪ They also tend to assume, conveniently, that those who will be affected by the change, have the same information.
▪ Conventional economic and accounting theory tends to assume that the process involved is highly rational and orderly.
▪ Inevitably this affects their attitude to these people so that they tend to assume that all their visits are time-wasting.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I can only think/suppose/assume (that)
▪ As for an Iguana Air, I can only assume it's a tropical airline.
▪ Now if I can only think of their name.
always assuming/supposing (that) sth
take on/assume/wear the mantle of sth
▪ Against all expectations, it has not taken on the mantle of best pupil in the euro class.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Assuming a carefree air, Luke picked up his jacket and walked to the door.
▪ Coen's economic forecast assumes a 3.5 percent growth rate.
▪ Her family life assumed more importance after the accident.
▪ I just assumed that the woman standing next to Jack was his wife.
▪ I think we can safely assume that the practice is legal.
▪ We assume that other industrialized nations are going to help with money for food and other supplies.
▪ When socializing with his co-workers he would assume a hearty, over-bearing manner.
▪ You shouldn't just assume things without getting all the facts.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He had been to school one day and already he was using phrases and assuming roles that belonged to a different world.
▪ In our original study, we assumed that Mr Major could hope to win roughly one by-election in three in Tory seats.
▪ Mackenzie assumed direct control, with his partners in subordinate positions.
▪ The role of defending the Church was assumed by the lower clergy, their chief spokesman being Francis Atterbury.
▪ They argue that to assume the worst is often to invite disaster.
▪ When they saw her appear at the bedroom window, they could only assume she was all right.
▪ You will not succeed by assuming that decisions alone will achieve behavior change.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Assume

Assume \As*sume"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Assumed; p. pr. & vb. n. Assuming.] [L. assumere; ad + sumere to take; sub + emere to take, buy: cf. F. assumer. See Redeem.]

  1. To take to or upon one's self; to take formally and demonstratively; sometimes, to appropriate or take unjustly.

    Trembling they stand while Jove assumes the throne.
    --Pope.

    The god assumed his native form again.
    --Pope.

  2. To take for granted, or without proof; to suppose as a fact; to suppose or take arbitrarily or tentatively.

    The consequences of assumed principles.
    --Whewell.

  3. To pretend to possess; to take in appearance.

    Ambition assuming the mask of religion.
    --Porteus.

    Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
    --Shak.

  4. To receive or adopt.

    The sixth was a young knight of lesser renown and lower rank, assumed into that honorable company.
    --Sir W. Scott.

    Syn: To arrogate; usurp; appropriate.

Assume

Assume \As*sume"\, v. i.

  1. To be arrogant or pretentious; to claim more than is due.
    --Bp. Burnet.

  2. (Law) To undertake, as by a promise.
    --Burrill.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
assume

early 15c., assumpten "to receive up into heaven" (especially of the Virgin Mary), also assumen "to arrogate," from Latin assumere, adsumere "to take up, take to oneself, take besides, obtain in addition," from ad- "to, up" (see ad-) + sumere "to take," from sub "under" (see sub-) + emere "to take" (see exempt (adj.)).\n

\nMeaning "to suppose, to take for granted as the basis of argument" is first recorded 1590s; that of "to take or put on (an appearance, etc.)" is from c.1600. Related: Assumed; assuming. Early past participle was assumpt. In rhetorical usage, assume expresses what the assumer postulates, often as a confessed hypothesis; presume expresses what the presumer really believes.

Wiktionary
assume

vb. To authenticate by means of belief; to surmise; to suppose to be true, especially without proof.

Related phrases:
WordNet
assume

  1. v. take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof; "I assume his train was late" [syn: presume, take for granted]

  2. take on titles, offices, duties, responsibilities; "When will the new President assume office?" [syn: adopt, take on, take over]

  3. take on a certain form, attribute, or aspect; "His voice took on a sad tone"; "The story took a new turn"; "he adopted an air of superiority"; "She assumed strange manners"; "The gods assume human or animal form in these fables" [syn: acquire, adopt, take on, take]

  4. take on as one's own the expenses or debts of another person; "I'll accept the charges"; "She agreed to bear the responsibility" [syn: bear, take over, accept]

  5. occupy or take on; "He assumes the lotus position"; "She took her seat on the stage"; "We took our seats in the orchestra"; "She took up her position behind the tree"; "strike a pose" [syn: take, strike, take up]

  6. seize and take control without authority and possibly with force; take as one's right or possession; "He assumed to himself the right to fill all positions in the town"; "he usurped my rights"; "She seized control of the throne after her husband died" [syn: usurp, seize, take over, arrogate]

  7. make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" [syn: simulate, sham, feign]

  8. Christianity, obsolete; take up someone's soul into heaven; "This is the day when May was assumed into heaven"

  9. put clothing on one's body; "What should I wear today?"; "He put on his best suit for the wedding"; "The princess donned a long blue dress"; "The queen assumed the stately robes"; "He got into his jeans" [syn: wear, put on, get into, don]

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "assume".

On the morning Washington departed Philadelphia to assume command at Boston, he and others of the Massachusetts delegation had traveled a short way with the general and his entourage, to a rousing accompaniment of fifes and drums, Adams feeling extremely sorry for himself for having to stay behind to tend what had become the unglamorous labors of Congress.

This, of course, assumes that our accomplice knew of these parties in advance.

Always assuming that my lady the Marquise has reported accurately, there are other possible diagnoses.

All-Soul, but dwelling within it and assuming body therein, while the others received their allotted spheres when the body was already in existence, when their sister soul was already in rule and, as it were, had already prepared habitations for them.

I was the one who assumed the bags for the Birth Center ambulance were stored in their warehouse.

It is a more easy task to provoke the metaphysical disputes of the Greeks, to drive into the cloister the victims of anarchy or despotism, to sanctify the patience of slaves and cowards, or to assume the merit of the humanity and benevolence of modern Christians.

Henry was much pleased with the election, the pope, who thought that prelate too much attached to the crown, assumed the power of annulling his election.

Assume you have the flu unless: Anthrax exposure or cases are reported in your community.

No one will think twice about an antiquarian vicar assisting a paid companion, assuming they even hear of it.

The principle, applicable to both federal and State courts, that the Court first assuming jurisdiction over property may maintain and exercise that jurisdiction to the exclusion of the other, was held not to be confined to cases where the property has actually been seized under judicial process, but applies as well to suits brought for marshalling assets, administering trusts, or liquidating estates and to suits of a similar nature, where to give effect to its jurisdiction the Court must control the property.

Congress appropriated money to pay counsel on both sides of the argument, the Court passed on the constitutionality of the carriage tax and sustained it as valid, and in so doing tacitly assumed that it had the power to review Congressional acts.

Though these modes can be appropriately used only occasionally, nevertheless they are of great value to the reader, and the voice should be trained to assume them whenever necessary.

Reviewers who could see no structure in the book assumed its author must have sacrificed architectonic considerations for local pleasures.

Laedo assumed its orbital speed was controlled artificially, rather than dictated by the equally artificial gravity of its primary.

The most active and successful of the Plebeians accumulated wealth, aspired to honors, deserved triumphs, contracted alliances, and, after some generations, assumed the pride of ancient nobility.