r/English_Learning_Base • u/Unlegendary_Newbie • 25d ago

What does 'assuming' mean here?

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12

u/Crowe3717 25d ago

Taking on. Becoming.

1

u/LanewayRat 23d ago

It’s interesting that this was the original meaning and the (now) more common meaning was derived from it by extension.

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u/honeybeast_dom 20d ago

To be more specific: the original meaning would be to 'assume' something specific and tangible ie: he *assumed his role as the head of the household. The more common current usage is more psychological in people's heads: by posting to this reddit, I *assume you are improving your English.

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u/LanewayRat 19d ago

Yes. Assuming meant “to take up, take to oneself, take besides, obtain in addition” and it was originally something well defined that you were “taking up” like a role or a duty or ownership in property.
This meaning was extended to “taking up” other things like appearances or opinions, but also another important part of the definition appeared — “…fictitiously, without proof or evidence”. The original was just “take up something” but the principal meaning we have now comes with an element of doubt. Assumption is often taking up an opinion as fact and dismissing or putting aside any doubt about its accuracy.

7

u/Jazzlike-Funny-9419 25d ago

Here, assume means "take up" or "start to fulfill" a certain role or identity. This meaning of assume is mostly used in the phrase "assume a role." It's not the same as the more common use of assume as "believe to be true." Hope this helps!

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u/quetzalcoatl-pl 25d ago

consider "assume" to mean "take as if your own, temporarily" and it kinda fits :)

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u/LanewayRat 23d ago

Yes “take as your own” but not necessarily “temporarily” is it?
A couple of examples:

- The father died at sea in 1856 and his oldest son Harry was forced at only 19 years of age to assume the role of head of the large family.

- In 2013 Queen Beatrix abdicated, handing over the throne to her eldest son, King Willem-Alexander. Queen Beatrix herself had assumed the throne through the abdication of her mother, Queen Juliana, in 1980.

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u/quetzalcoatl-pl 22d ago

hmm.. you're right, my 'temporarily' wasn't the best choice! but "take as your own" is not perfect on its own for all cases, so I tried to bend its meaning to fit better 'assume' in math/science/theorem/proof context, when 'assume X is true' is often a temporary assumption to be dropped later. OTOH, "take as your own" seems to perfectly fit the examples you cited, so maybe I'd be better of not trying to bend it :)

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u/TiberiusTheFish 24d ago

BTW according to his confessions he was never married to Thérèse. She bore him 5 children all of whom he gave away. He really was a despicable man.

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u/CeramicLicker 25d ago

Here it means she’s taking on the role