presumptuous
adjUK /pɹəˈzʌmp.tʃuː.əs/ · US /pɹəˈzʌmpt͡ʃuəs/
Etymology From pre- + Latin sūmptus + -uous, from Middle English presumptuous, borrowed from Old French presumptieus, presumpcieus, presumptuos, from Latin praesumptuosus.
1
Making unwarranted presumptions or assumptions, often out of arrogance or excessive self-confidence, and thus exceeding appropriate or rightful limits.
- Preſumptuous Prieſt, this place cōmands my patiēce, / Or thou ſhould'ſt finde thou haſt dis-honor'd me.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 105, column 2:
- Is this the proud presumtious Esquire of the North, / That would not yeeld his prisoner to my Queen1596, [attributed to William Shakespeare; Thomas Kyd], The Raigne of King Edward the Third: […], London: […] [T. Scarlet] for Cuthbert Burby, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
4 more examples
- Keepe back thy seruant also from presumptuous sinnes, let them not haue dominion ouer me: then shall I be vpright, and I shalbe innocent from the great transgression.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 19:13:
- Dorothea checked herself suddenly with self-rebuke for the presumptuous way in which she was reckoning on uncertain events, but she was spared any inward effort to change the direction of her thoughts by the appearance of a cantering horseman round a turning of the road.1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter III, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I:
- "Of course," said Felix, "I suggest nothing; it would be very presumptuous in me to advise you. But I think there is no doubt about the fact."1878 July–October, Henry James, Jr., chapter IV, in The Europeans. A Sketch. […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1878, →OCLC, pages 166–167:
- The powers of the world were making ready to crush the presumptuous France of the Jacobins, and the France of King and Aristocracy would be restored.1904 May, Winston Churchill, chapter XIV, in The Crossing, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, book III (Louisiana), page 576:
- Derived terms
- overpresumptuous, presumptuosity, presumptuously, presumptuousness, unpresumptuous
- Related terms
- presumption, presume