presume

Verb

presume (third-person singular simple present presumes, present participle presuming, simple past and past participle presumed)

1. (transitive) To be so presumptuous as (to do something) without proper authority or permission [with to (+ infinitive)].
   • I don't want to pretend to be an authority on this line of business, so I would never presume to tell you how to run your own company.
   • There were no women at the birth of the International Gay Association in Coventry, England in 1978. The men there decided they would like lesbians to join; they would not presume to formulate aims for them but would adjust the organization if and when women joined it.1982 August 21, Sylvia Barren, “Women and the IGA: A History of Struggle”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 6, page 3
2. (archaic, transitive) To perform, do (something) without authority; to lay claim to without permission.
   • Don't make the decision yourself and presume too much.
3. (transitive) To assume or suggest to be true (without proof); to take for granted, to suppose.
   • Paw-prints in the snow allow us to presume a visit from next door's cat.
   • Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

   Synonyms:

   suppose

4. (transitive) To take as a premise; to assume for the sake of argument.
   • If we presume that human cloning may one day become a mundane, everyday reality, then maybe it's time to start thinking more positively about our soon-to-arrive genetically engineered pseudo-siblings.2011 February 5, John Patterson, The Guardian
5. (intransitive) To impose (on) for one's advantage; to be presumptuous; to take advantage (of); to take liberties (with) [with on or upon].
   • Thanks, but I can't accept the money; I would not want to presume on the generosity of a stranger'
   • Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;
     Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again.1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 22”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC