All 4 Uses of
presume
in
Candide
- I find thou hast the most consummate effrontery to dare to mention so presumptuous a design!†
Chpt 15 *presumptuous = exercising privileges to which one is not entitled
- "May I presume to ask you, sir," said Candide, "whether you do not receive a great deal of pleasure from reading Horace?"†
Chpt 25
- All that I can presume to say is, that there are millions of people upon earth who have a hundred times more to complain of than King Charles Edward, the Emperor Ivan, or the Sultan Achmet.†
Chpt 27
- I am entirely ignorant of the event you mention; I presume in general that they who meddle with the administration of public affairs die sometimes miserably, and that they deserve it; but I never trouble my head about what is transacting at Constantinople; I content myself with sending there for sale the fruits of the garden which I cultivate.†
Chpt 30
Definitions:
-
(1)
(presume as in: presumption of innocence) to think of something as true or likely, even though it is not known with certaintySomething can be presumed because it seems reasonable or because there is a rule or law demanding such an assumption. For example, in the United States someone charged with a crime is presumed by law to be innocent unless they are proven guilty at a trial.
-
(2)
(presumptuous as in: she is presumptuous) exercising privileges to which one is not entitled -- such as being too familiar or too bossy
-
(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus