assume

verb

1. To authenticate by means of belief; to surmise; to suppose to be true, especially without proof.

   “We assume that, as her parents were dentists, she knows quite a bit about dentistry.”

   “Levelling of ME /irC/ and /urC/, which Orton assumes for the whole of the North (S. Durham §§411-13), has not taken place in Dent and S.We, where ME /urC/ remains (4:46).”

   “Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.”

2. To take on a position, duty or form.

   “Mr. Jones will assume the position of a lifeguard until a proper replacement is found.”

   “Trembling they stand while Jove assumes the throne.”

   “Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability: […] it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.”

   “His unruly hair was slicked down with water, and as Jessamy introduced him to Miss Brindle his face assumed a cherubic innocence which would immediately have aroused the suspicions of anyone who knew him.”

   “So while Ralph generally seems to inhabit a different, more glorious and joyful universe than everyone else here his yearning and heartbreak are eminently relateable. Ralph sometimes appears to be a magically demented sprite who has assumed the form of a boy, but he’s never been more poignantly, nakedly, movingly human than he is here.”

3. To adopt a feigned quality or manner; to claim without right; to arrogate.

   “He assumed an air of indifference.”

   “Assume a virtue, if you have it not.”

   “ambition assuming the mask of religion.”

4. To receive, adopt (a person).

   “The sixth was a young knight of lesser renown and lower rank, assumed into that honorable company.”

5. To adopt (an idea or cause).