Presumed

How to spell presumed

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce presumed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does presumed mean?

1. verbSupposed or assumed something to be true on the basis of probability rather than proof.
2. adjectiveBelieved or accepted to be the case without being proven.

Presumed in a sentence

• verb

  The auditors presumed the figures were accurate until the discrepancy surfaced.

• adjective

  The old agreement is treated as presumed valid until a court decides otherwise.

• verb

  Everyone presumed she had already left for the airport.

• adjective

  The law treats every defendant as presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Where does presumed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the past form of 'presume', which English took in the fourteenth century from the Old French presumer, itself descended from the Latin verb praesumere. That Latin word literally meant 'to take in advance' or 'to take beforehand', built from prae meaning 'before' and sumere meaning 'to take' (a verb that also gives us 'consume' and 'assume'). The idea of taking something in advance shaded naturally into 'to take for granted' or 'to suppose without proof', which is the modern sense. The same prae prefix, spelled pre- in English, shows up in 'prepare' and 'prevent', and remembering that pre- means 'before' helps fix the single s in the middle, since the root is sume, not 'zume'. The slightly old fashioned sense 'to dare or be so bold' (as in 'I would not presume') preserves the original flavour of overreaching by taking too much.

How the word is built

• pre- (before)
• sume (from Latin sumere: to take)
• -ed (past tense/participle suffix)