Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having or showing excessive and arrogant self-confidence; presumptuous.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Acting presumptuously; hence, overbold; forward; presumptuous.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Present participle of
presume .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Your letter was, if possible, received with more than usual warmth for I was not a little anxious to hear from you notwithstanding I of course knew the cause of your delay -- And you were right in presuming I would pardon you, for how could I ever do otherwise when you always have a very good excuse and are ever generous to pardon me.
Letter from Mary Houston to Young John Allen,October 23, 1856 2008
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I give little credence in presuming the human practice of organizing thought processes as providing insight into the ultimate reality (Who knows the Truth?).
Blurring the Line 2007
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Perhaps in presuming to take some laws more seriously than others I am on a slippery slope. alex.
mordida 2007
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Then quoth he to the wolf, Verily, the Lord pardoneth his erring servant and relenteth towards him, if he confess his offences; and I am a weak slave and have offended in presuming to counsel thee.
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I am afraid I was hasty in presuming I could help you to find your object.
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YAFLA?), and of course the possibilities are rich, again presuming that you're willing to accept an arbitrary sequence of letters and/or digits, creating a backronym to match.
Archive 2006-04-01 Ben Barren 2006
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YAFLA?), and of course the possibilities are rich, again presuming that you're willing to accept an arbitrary sequence of letters and/or digits, creating a backronym to match.
3 to 5 Letter URLs for Your.com + .au Ben Barren 2006
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Don’t you think you’re going a bit far in presuming this is a hoax?
FBI Investigating Possible UVa Hate Crime at cvillenews.com 2003
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Whoever wins – former mayor Ken Livingstone or former MP Oona King – will have a 20-month warm-up period before taking on Johnson (presuming, that is, Boris's ambition to replace David Cameron doesn't prompt him to quit City Hall and scurry back to the Commons).
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The current money is on Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, who had the acceptable aristocratic and educational pedigree for the job -- presuming, that is, that you must practice falconry in order to write about it.
Who wrote Shakespeare? Author James Shapiro offers an answer. Lloyd Rose 2010
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