presupposition

/pɹiː.sʌ.pəˈzɪ.ʃ(ə)n/

//pɹiː.sʌ.pəˈzɪ.ʃ(ə)n// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"presupposition" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“presupposition” is uncommon English (frequency #78,955 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,955
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An assumption made beforehand; a preliminary conjecture or speculation.

Corpus desk

Index EN-presupposition · presupposition · English

presupposition · rank #78,955 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,955
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH preen

Nearest frequency peer: preen (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “presupposition”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “presupposition” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for presupposition
PropertyValue
Headwordpresupposition
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pɹiː.sʌ.pəˈzɪ.ʃ(ə)n/
Letters14
Frequency rank#78,955
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “presupposition” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).presuppositionfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “preen” (#78,954), “primogeniture” (#78,957), “princeps” (#78,958). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “presupposition” is #78,955. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

presupposition is uncommon English at frequency #78,955 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /pɹiː.sʌ.pəˈzɪ.ʃ(ə)n/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for presupposition, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French présupposition, from Latin praesuppositio, from the past participle stem of praesuppōnere (“to presuppose”). The correct English form is presupposition, spelled P-R-E-S-U-P-P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    An assumption made beforehand; a preliminary conjecture or speculation.
  2. 2
    The act of presupposing.
  3. 3
    An assumption or belief implicit in an utterance or other use of language.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how presupposition appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. He made one cardinal error in his presuppositions about the relation between language and perception, but in this he was far from alone.
  2. For instance: a verb might convey someone's evaluation of it as a presupposition. To say ‘they deprived him of a visit to his parents’ presupposes that he wanted to visit (vs. ‘spare him a visit...’).

Etymology

From Middle French présupposition, from Latin praesuppositio, from the past participle stem of praesuppōnere (“to presuppose”).

Synonyms

assumptionconjecture

This word in other languages

presuposición(Español)présupposition(Français)Annahme(Deutsch)pressuposto(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "presupposition"?
"presupposition" is spelled P-R-E-S-U-P-P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /pɹiː.sʌ.pəˈzɪ.ʃ(ə)n/.
What does "presupposition" mean?
As a noun, "presupposition" means: An assumption made beforehand; a preliminary conjecture or speculation.
How do you pronounce "presupposition"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "presupposition" is /pɹiː.sʌ.pəˈzɪ.ʃ(ə)n/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "presupposition"?
From Middle French présupposition, from Latin praesuppositio, from the past participle stem of praesuppōnere (“to presuppose”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "presupposition", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 14 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

photorealistic#78,937parapsychology#78,918nitrocellulose#78,870stoichiometric#79,086

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list