presupposes

Presuppose is a verb meaning to assume something in advance or to take as given in a context of communication. In everyday use, to presuppose something is to imply that it is already accepted or known, even if the main claim is questioned or negated. In academic discussions, presuppose is closely linked to the linguistic notion of presupposition, which concerns background information carried by an utterance.

In linguistics, presupposition refers to background information that an utterance presupposes to be true. This information is considered part of the context rather than a part of the sentence’s explicit truth conditions. Presuppositions are typically assumed by speakers and listeners and often project out of negation, questions, or conditionals, meaning they continue to affect interpretation in broader discourse.

Common presupposition triggers include definite noun phrases (for example, The author of the book is signing copies), factive verbs (know, realize, regret), and change-of-state verbs (stop, begin). Other triggers involve adverbs and aspectual words such as still or again. Examples: “The king of France is bald” presupposes that there exists a king of France. “Jane stopped smoking” presupposes that Jane used to smoke. “John is still married” presupposes that John was previously married. These presuppositions are not the asserted content of the sentence but are assumed to be true for the sentence to function in discourse.

The study of presuppositions intersects philosophy, linguistics, and pragmatics. They differ from entailments in that they are background beliefs and often survive negation, yet they can be canceled or contested in certain contexts.