Presumptive
adj ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Based on presumption or conjecture; inferred, likely, presumed.
"By late May, he was already considered his party’s presumptive nominee."
- 2 Based on presumption or conjecture; inferred, likely, presumed.; Often postpositive, as in heir presumptive: of an heir or heiress: presumed to be entitled to inherit unless someone with a superior entitlement is born.
"The Queen’s younger brother was the heir presumptive to the throne, until she gave birth to her first child."
- 3 Based on presumption or conjecture; inferred, likely, presumed.; Of a cell or tissue: which has yet to differentiate, but is presumed to develop into a particular body part.
- 4 Synonym of presumptuous (“making unwarranted presumptions or assumptions, often out of arrogance or excessive self-confidence, and thus exceeding what is appropriate or right”).
"Forgive me for being presumptive, but aren’t you and Mark engaged?"
- 5 Chiefly in presumptive evidence: providing a reasonable basis for a certain presumption or conclusion to be drawn. often
"The perſon in this ſituation [having a mere right of property without possession or the right of possession of the property] may have the true ultimate property of the lands in himſelf: but by the intervention of certain circumſtances, either by his ovvn negligence, the ſolemn act of his anceſtor, or the determination of a court of juſtice, the preſumptive evidence of that right is ſtrongly in favour of his antagoniſt; vvho has thereby obtained the abſolute right of poſſeſſion."
- 1 affording reasonable grounds for belief or acceptance wordnet
- 2 having a reasonable basis for belief or acceptance wordnet
Example
More examples"It was almost 100 years ago that Alice Paul and her fellow suffragists were arrested for picketing outside the White House for the right to vote. Today, women make up more than half of the electorate. For the first time in history, a woman is a major party’s presumptive presidential nominee."
Etymology
PIE word *upó From Late Middle English presumptif, presumptijf (“based on presumption”), from Anglo-Norman presumptif and Middle French presumptif, présomptif (“based on presumption; of an heir or heiress: presumed to be entitled to inherit unless someone with a superior entitlement is born; presumptuous”) (modern French présomptif), and directly from their etymon Late Latin praesumptivus (“based on presumption; bold; insolent”), from Latin praesūmptus (“presumed”) + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives). Praesūmptus is the perfect passive participle of praesūmō (“to presume”), from prae- (prefix meaning ‘before; in front’) + sūmō (“to seize, take; to accept, presuppose; to undertake”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to distribute; to take”)).
Related phrases
More for "presumptive"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.