Definition of suppose
supposed
;supposing
transitive verb
1a : to lay down tentatively as a hypothesis, assumption, or proposal suppose a fire broke out suppose you bring the saladb (1) : to hold as an opinion : believe they supposed they were early (2) : to think probable or in keeping with the facts seems reasonable to suppose that he would profit
3 : presuppose
intransitive verb
: conjecture, opine
From the M-W Editors
Examples of suppose in a Sentence
Suppose a fire broke out. How would we escape?
Just suppose for a moment that you agreed with me.
Supposing he refuses to help, what do we do then?
The renovations will cost much more than we originally supposed.
Recent Examples of suppose from the Web
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The City Council is expected address funding for a special election in its next meeting and the SoccerCity initiative is supposed to be considered two weeks later.
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Are we supposed to guess that this is somehow tied to Conway’s shadowy deal with the search engine Pollyhop?
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Cleveland officials said in the letter that Loehmann was supposed to disclose that information.
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Security now is the dominant theme in a contest that was supposed to be about Britain’s exit from the European Union, with the main parties battling over which can keep Britain safer.
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Flights were supposed to resume Saturday evening, but the airline later announced that none of its planes would leave the airports before Sunday.
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While the law is supposed to prevent unwanted robocallers from reaching your cellphone without your consent, Republicans are supporting what consumer groups describe as a workaround.
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But as licensed practitioners, in-house nurses are supposed to hold their patients’ interests ahead of their employers’ profits.
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Perhaps no government employee can ever be entirely free of bias, but agencies like the F.B.I. are at least supposed to aim for that ideal, in part to provide everyone else with a dependable record of facts.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'suppose'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of suppose
Middle English, from Anglo-French supposer, from Medieval Latin supponere (perfect indicative supposui), from Latin, to put under, substitute, from sub- + ponere to put — more at position
SUPPOSE Defined for English Language Learners
suppose
playDefinition of suppose for English Language Learners
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: to think of (something) as happening or being true in order to imagine what might happen
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: to believe (something) to be true
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: to believe (something) to be possible
SUPPOSE Defined for Kids
Learn More about suppose
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See words that rhyme with suppose Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for suppose Spanish Central: Translation of suppose Nglish: Translation of suppose for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of suppose for Arabic speakers
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