Supposed

How to spell supposed

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce supposed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does supposed mean?

1. adjectiveRequired, expected, or meant to do something, often by rule or arrangement.
2. verbPast tense of suppose: assumed or believed something to be true.

Supposed in a sentence

• adjective

  The delivery was supposed to arrive before noon.

• verb

  He supposed the meeting had been cancelled and stayed home.

• adjective

  Employees are supposed to log their hours every day.

• verb

  Everyone supposed the parcel would be cheaper to send by sea.

Where does supposed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb supponere, which literally meant 'to place under' or 'to set beneath', formed from sub 'under' and ponere 'to put or place'. From the idea of putting one thing under another grew the figurative sense of laying down an assumption, that is, putting forward an idea to stand in for fact. English took the verb 'suppose' from Old French supposer in the 1300s, and 'supposed' is simply its past participle, later hardened into an adjective. The same ponere root sits inside a whole family of English words such as 'position', 'compose', 'deposit' and 'oppose', which explains the single 'p' followed by 'pos' that writers sometimes mangle. A useful memory hook is that the obligation phrase 'supposed to' is spelled with that final 'd' even though everyday speech swallows it into a 't' sound, which is exactly where the spelling trap lies.

How the word is built

• sub- (under, assimilated to sup-)
• pos (from Latin ponere/positus: to place, to put)
• -ed (past participle / adjective suffix)