Meanings
plural presuppositions
- countableuncountableAn assumption made beforehand; a preliminary conjecture or speculation.
He made one cardinal error in his presuppositions about the relation between language and perception, but in this he was far from alone.
2010, Guy Deutscher, Through the Language Glass, Arrow, published 2011, page 40 - countableuncountableThe act of presupposing.
- countableuncountablehuman sciencesAn assumption or belief implicit in an utterance or other use of language.
For instance: a verb might convey someone's evaluation of it as a presupposition. To say ‘they deprived him of a visit to his parents’ presupposes that he wanted to visit (vs. ‘spare him a visit...’).
1971, Paul Kiparsky, Carol Kiparsky, “Fact”, in Danny Steinberg, Leon Jakobovits, editors, Semantics: An Interdisciplinary Reader in Philosophy, Linguistics and Psychology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 351
Synonyms & antonyms
assumption
Origin
- Latinpraesuppositio
- Middle Frenchprésupposition
- Englishpresupposition
From Middle French présupposition, from Latin praesuppositio, from the past participle stem of praesuppōnere (“to presuppose”).
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan pressuposició, suposició
- pressuposicióassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- suposicióassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- pressuposicióact of presupposing
Chinese Mandarin 預設 /预设, 前提
- 預設 /预设 (yùshè)assumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- 前提 (qiántí)assumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
Dutch veronderstelling, aanname
- veronderstellingassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- aannameassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- veronderstellingact of presupposing
- (het) veronderstellenact of presupposing
- aannameact of presupposing
- (het) aannemenact of presupposing
French présupposition
- présuppositionassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
German Annahme
- Annahmeassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
Greek προϋπόθεση, προϋπόθεση
- προϋπόθεση (proÿpóthesi)assumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- προϋπόθεση (proÿpóthesi)act of presupposing
Hindi पूर्वमान्यता
- पूर्वमान्यता (pūrvamānyatā)assumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
Hungarian előfeltevés
- előfeltevésassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
Icelandic forsenda
- forsendaassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
Italian assunzione, congettura
- assunzioneassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- congetturaassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- speculazioneassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- presuppostoassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- presupposizioneact of presupposing
Polish antycypacja
- antycypacjaassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
Portuguese pressuposição, pressuposto
- pressuposiçãoassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- pressupostoassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
- pressuposiçãoact of presupposing
Spanish presuposición
- presuposiciónassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
Vietnamese tiền giả định
- tiền giả địnhassumption, conjecture, speculation or something supposed without proof
Cite this entry
presupposition. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/presupposition
“presupposition.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/presupposition. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “presupposition,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/presupposition.
Source: presupposition on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.