Definition of "assumed" []

• Taken up or used so as to deceive; pretended: an assumed name. (adjective)
• Taken for granted; supposed: an assumed increase in population. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A distinction of the canonists has been assumed by those who have used the word with most precision -- _assumed_, though it is by no means a simple and indisputable one."
• "Late in the century, with the eruption of the American and French revolutions, the phrase assumed democratic overtones."
• "Religion: the name assumed by the Hindu goddess Devi."