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# presuppose

«presuppose» in Mova's school dictionary: **To take something for granted as true before you start:…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (presuppose, presupposes, presupposed, presupposing) — formal

### meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) To take something for granted as true before you start: «The plan presupposes that everyone will help.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/#m1)

2) (formal) To need something to be true or to exist first: «Reading presupposes knowing the letters.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In maths and logic it points to the hidden starting idea of a question or argument. In reasoning and olympiad puzzles it helps you spot a trick question: «When did you stop cheating?» presupposes that you cheated. Phrases: «presuppose that», «presupposes knowledge of».

### examples

- The question «Who broke the vase?» presupposes that somebody broke it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/#x1)
- Long division presupposes that you know your times tables. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/#x2)
- His plan presupposes that the bus will be on time. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/#x3)
- The story presupposes that dragons can talk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/#x4)
- Good teamwork presupposes trust. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/#x5)
- Don't presuppose the answer before you check the facts. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/#x6)

### note

Formal. Noun: presupposition. In logic, a loaded question presupposes something that may be false; you can answer by questioning the presupposition. Similar to «assume», but «presuppose» is about what must already be true for something else to make sense.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «presuppose» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/presuppose/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.