verb · academic

presume

UK/prɪˈzjuːm/US/prɪˈzuːm/pre·SUME

Band 6-7task2speaking

to accept something as true without definite proof

Examples

When writing a literature review, we should not presume causation from correlation.

For the purposes of the model, the researchers presumed that migration rates remain constant.

In legal contexts a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Band 8 sentence

In the discussion section, one should not presume causality from correlational data without additional experiments.

Collocations

  • presume that
  • be presumed to be
  • presumption of innocence

Word family

presume verbpresumption nounpresumptive adjectivepresumably adverb

Common mistakes

He presume that the data is reliable.He presumes that the data is reliable.

I presume he will come, so I don't need to check.I presume that he will come, so I don't need to check.

Say it for a higher band

5suppose6assume7+presume

Synonyms

assume

suppose

Easily confused

assume

I assumed he was joking, so I didn't respond.

suppose

Suppose we increased the sample size, would the results change?

Related words

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In Sublist 6

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