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View synonyms for

supposed

[ suh-pohzd, -poh-zid; suh-pohst ]

adjective

  1. merely thought or alleged to be such, on a very questionable basis; imagined:

    When one tries to understand more about these supposed gains, they turn out to be nothing more than clever rhetoric.

  2. accepted or believed to be so, without certain knowledge:

    This is the supposed site of the ancient temple, based on recent archeological finds.

  3. assumed for the sake of argument; hypothetical:

    Given a supposed scenario where you see two students fighting in the schoolyard, how do you handle it?



verb

  1. the simple past tense and past participle of suppose.

supposed

/ əˈəʊ; səˈpəʊzɪdlɪ; -ˈpəʊzɪd /

adjective

  1. prenominal presumed to be true without certain knowledge

    his supposed date of birth

  2. prenominal believed to be true on slight grounds; highly doubtful

    the supposed existence of ghosts

  3. əˈəʊ postpositivefoll byto expected or obliged (to)

    I'm supposed to be there at nine

  4. əˈəʊ postpositive; used in negativefoll byto expected or obliged not (to)

    you're not supposed to walk on the grass

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • supposedly, adverb
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Other Word Forms

  • ܱ·Dz·· [s, uh, -, poh, -zid-lee], adverb
  • ԴDz·ܱ·Dz adjective
  • ܲ·ܱ·Dz adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of supposed1

First recorded in 1560–70; suppose + -ed 2
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Idioms and Phrases

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Banana Cake will taste the way the day was supposed to go, but April days are unpredictable.

From

The row comes at a time when Africa is supposed to be moving towards greater free trade through the establishment of a continent-wide free-trade area, which began operating four years ago.

From

Even on immigration, his supposed strong suit, he's underwater, the Economist You/Gov poll shows:

From

It was supposed to be a mellow sport — something my depleted soul could handle.

From

One must wonder why many supposed allies of President Trump would decide to capitalize on the reporting from the New York Times and try to throw Hegseth under the bus at a vulnerable moment.

From

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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