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Definition of assume verb from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

        

    assume

     verb
    verb
    NAmE//əˈsum//
     
    Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they assume
     
    he / she / it assumes
     
    past simple assumed
     
    -ing form assuming
     
     
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  1. 1to think or accept that something is true but without having proof of it assume (that)… It is reasonable to assume (that) the economy will continue to improve. Let us assume for a moment that the plan succeeds. She would, he assumed, be home at the usual time. it is assumed (that)… It is generally assumed that stress is caused by too much work. assume something Don't always assume the worst (= that something bad has happened). In this example we have assumed a unit price of $10. assume somebody/something to be/have something I had assumed him to be foreign.
  2. 2assume something (formal) to take or begin to have power or responsibility synonym take The court assumed responsibility for the girl's welfare. Rebel forces have assumed control of the capital.
  3. 3assume something (formal) to take financial responsibility for something; to agree to pay for something Corporations are assuming more and more debt as they are forced to invest and innovate. Students must assume their own healthcare costs and buy their own equipment.
  4. 4assume something (formal) to begin to have a particular quality or appearance synonym take somethingon This matter has assumed considerable importance. In the story, the god assumes the form of an eagle.
  5. 5assume something (formal) to pretend to have a particular feeling or quality synonym put on He assumed an air of concern.
    6. AWL Collocationsassumeassume verb
    • commonly, generally
    • erroneously, incorrectly, mistakenly
    • safely
    • implicitly, tacitly
    Contrary to what is generally assumed by theoretical models, our results demonstrate that… We can safely assume that emissions from developing countries will keep rising as economic activity grows. This approach implicitly assumes that medication use is constant during the assessment period.
    • be reasonable to, be safe to
    • be unreasonable to
    It is reasonable to assume that those with a continuous work history should have a higher commitment to the labor market. On the basis of available evidence, it would not be unreasonable to assume that Chinese writing began in the seventeenth century B.C.assumption noun
    • implicit, underlying
    • valid
    This implicit assumption is rarely tested. There seem to be some underlying assumptions, but there does not seem to be any evidence.
    • reexamine, test
    • satisfy, validate
    • challenge, question
    • contradict, violate
    The first experiment was designed to test the assumptions of these hypotheses. Our findings challenge an important assumption shared by all of the theories we have examined.
See assume in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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