Read full poem →larly Sir Egerton Brydges, who suspects that great injustice has
been done to Beaumont, by the supposition that his merit was
principally confined to lopping the redundancies of Fletcher. The
Dictionary Entry
A belief or idea that is not proven but is used as a basis for argument, action, or further investigation; an assumption or hypothesis.
In a Sentence
“Her entire argument was based on the supposition that the witness was telling the truth, which later proved to be false.”
Origin
From Old French supposicion, from Latin suppositio meaning "a placing under," from supponere "to place under."
Common Phrases
Still being gathered for this entry.
Missing dictionary details are being fetched in the background.
Poetry examples for “supposition”
Excerpts from the ReadingWillow English Library collection.
Read full poem →ingly blind indeed, for he says that he did not see the absurdity of a spirit's
being delighted to bathe in Jiery floods. Upon supposition therefore of this
absurdity being chargeable on the old text, he alters delighted spirit to de^
Read full poem →are all which cc«i lead to such a supposition; and may we not understand those words to
mean only, ** When I change the scene,'* or, •* when the time for my stay herb is com-
Read full poem →The House of Supposition --
The Glimmering Frontier that
Read full poem →introduction of three stanzas from the Teseide near the end of Troilus,
render the former supposition unlikely; whilst at the same time we are
confirmed in the impression that the (revised) Knightes Tale succeeded
Read full poem →at, whose lameness and infirmities made the satire equally poignant.
In either supposition, a powerful and leading nobleman was offended,
to whose party all seem to have drawn, whose loose conduct, in that
Read full poem →of Keats, and much of their mannerism has been traced
to this source. The justice of this supposition is more
than doubtful, and the stupid malevolence of the criti-
Read full poem →less severe, may be answered, by a remarker somewhat inclined to cavil,
by a contrary supposition, that his judgment would, probably, have been
less severe, if his imagination had been more fruitful. It is ridiculous
Read full poem →the curse from Mansoul, than just nothing at all; for a law being broken
by Mansoul, that had before, upon a supposition of the breach thereof, a
curse pronounced against him for it of God, can never, by his obeying of
Read full poem →If this supposition is correct, some light is cast both on the
"Inscription of the Pathway." and on the date assigned by Wordsworth