A little while ago my wife and I were in a restaurant. For some random reason I suddenly wondered what the difference was between ‘assume’ and ‘presume’. I asked the waitress if she knew, she didn’t. To our surprise a few minutes later she returned with a printout of the definition she had just looked up online (great customer service).
Here is the difference.
Assume: To accept something to be true without question or proof:
‘I assumed (that) you knew each other because you went to the same school’.
Presume: To believe something to be true because it is very likely, although you are not certain:
‘I presume (that) they’re not coming, since they haven’t replied to the invitation’.
Well, there you have it.
Posted by Matt SamyciaWood
Tags: Assume, Definition, Presume
