All 6 Uses
presume
in
The Purloined Letter
(Auto-generated)
- D—, I presume, is not altogether a fool, and, if not, must have anticipated...
*presume = assume
- We opened every possible drawer; and I presume you know that, to a properly trained police agent, such a thing as a secret drawer is impossible.†
- I presume you looked to the mirrors, between the boards and the plates, and you probed the beds and the bed-clothes, as well as the curtains and carpets.†
- I presume you have at last made up your mind that there is no such thing as overreaching the Minister?†
- And do you not see also, that such recherches nooks for concealment are adapted only for ordinary occasions, and would be adopted only by ordinary intellects; for, in all cases of concealment, a disposal of the article concealed—a disposal of it in this recherche manner,—is, in the very first instance, presumable and presumed; and thus its discovery depends, not at all upon the acumen, but altogether upon the mere care, patience, and determination of the seekers; and where the case is of importance—or, what amounts to the same thing in the policial eyes, when the reward is of magnitude,—the qualities in question have never been known to fail.†
presumable = able to be assumedstandard suffix: The suffix "-able" in presumable means able to be. This is the same pattern you see in words like breakable, understandable, and comfortable. Note that when "-able" is placed at the end of a word that ends in "E", the "E" is often dropped as in lovable and believable.
- And do you not see also, that such recherches nooks for concealment are adapted only for ordinary occasions, and would be adopted only by ordinary intellects; for, in all cases of concealment, a disposal of the article concealed—a disposal of it in this recherche manner,—is, in the very first instance, presumable and presumed; and thus its discovery depends, not at all upon the acumen, but altogether upon the mere care, patience, and determination of the seekers; and where the case is of importance—or, what amounts to the same thing in the policial eyes, when the reward is of magnitude,—the qualities in question have never been known to fail.†
Definitions:
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(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.
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(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)