Presume vs Assume

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me if the following words are essentially synonymous?

1- Assume
2- Presume

Tom

[Conchita]

Yes, Tom, both words are synonymous in the sense of 'suppose'.

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

Some additional comments - of the two it seems that 'assume' is the more popular and crops up quite happily in ordinary conversation with the idea of take for granted. 'Presume' takes itself more seriously, gets on its high horse a bit by sounding a little more pompous. Beginning a sentence with 'I presume that ' suggests 'I have thought about all this and my conclusion based on that evidence is that ' Interestingly this divergence in meaning of these two words shows itself in other forms of the words. 'Presumptuous' means being overbearingly confident or as we say: He's too full of himself'. The adjective 'unassuming' when referring to a person suggests 'harmless' 'ordinary'.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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