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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.

How am I supposed to get through the day?

From

The impetus for the strike, union leaders said, was 44 labor law violations allegedly committed by the county, including retaliation and contracting of jobs that are supposed to be filled by union workers.

From

The IRA has never admitted involvement and was supposed to be on ceasefire at the time of the attack.

From

“How are you supposed to defend against that?”

From

The van was supposed to close at 8 p.m., but Criterion extended the run for an additional hour.

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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