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Suggest vs Suppose - What's the difference?

suggest | suppose |

In transitive terms the difference between suggest and suppose

is that suggest is to recommend while suppose is to theorize or hypothesize.

suggest

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To imply but stop short of saying explicitly.
  • * (John Locke)
  • Some ideas are suggested to the mind by all the ways of sensation and reflection.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 14, author=Angelique Chrisafis, work=Guardian
  • , title= Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism , passage=She was Nicolas Sarkozy's pin-up for diversity, the first Muslim woman with north African parents to hold a major French government post. But Rachida Dati has now turned on her own party elite with such ferocity that some have suggested she should be expelled from the president's ruling party.}}
  • To make one suppose; cause one to suppose (something).
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 24, author=Nathan Rabin, work=The Onion AV Club
  • , title= Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3 , passage=In the abstract, Stuhlbarg’s twinkly-eyed sidekick suggests Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2 by way of late-period Robin Williams with an alien twist, but Stuhlbarg makes a character that easily could have come across as precious into a surprisingly palatable, even charming man.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author= Sarah Boseley
  • , volume=189, issue=10, page=15, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Children shun vegetables and fruit , passage=The [British Heart Foundation's] data […] suggests there has been little improvement in eating, drinking and exercise habits in spite of the concern about obesity and the launch of the government's child measurement programme, which warns parents if their children are overweight. About a third of under-16s across the UK are either overweight or obese.}}
  • To ask for without demanding.
  • To recommend.
  • * , chapter=19
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}
  • (obsolete) To seduce; to prompt to evil; to tempt.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • Knowing that tender youth is soon suggested .

    Usage notes

    * (ask for without demanding) This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (the form ending in -ing ). See

    Synonyms

    * (imply but stop short of saying explicitly) allude, hint, imply, insinuate * (ask for without demanding) propose * See also

    Derived terms

    * suggestion * suggestive

    See also

    * (Suggestion)

    suppose

    English

    Verb

    (suppos)
  • To take for granted; to conclude, with less than absolute supporting data; to believe.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=15 citation , passage=‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
  • To theorize or hypothesize.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose .}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-09-06, author= David Cox
  • , volume=189, issue=13, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Celebrity rules even Hawking's universe , passage=Just what is supposed to be wrong with the pursuit of fame is not always made clear. Plato disapproved of competition for praise on the grounds that it would tempt the great to bend to the will of the crowd. It is hard to argue with that, and social degradation remains a fear.}}
  • To imagine; to believe; to receive as true.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • How easy is a bush supposed a bear!
  • * (Bible), 2 (w) xiii. 32
  • Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men, the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead.
  • *
  • As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
  • To require to exist or to be true; to imply by the laws of thought or of nature.
  • Purpose supposes foresight.
  • * 1752 , (Charlotte Lennox), (The Female Quixote)
  • One falsehood always supposes another, and renders all you can say suspected.
  • To put by fraud in the place of another.
  • Synonyms

    * assume (1,2) * See also

    Derived terms

    * supposable * supposed to (idiom) * supposedly

    Statistics

    * English reporting verbs ----