supposititious was our Word of the Day on 05/11/2017. Hear the podcast!
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Examples of supposititious in a Sentence
entered the world as the supposititious son of a housemaid
Did You Know?
The Latin verb supponere, meaning "substitute," has several legitimate heirs in English, including "supposititious" (which dates from the early 17th century) and "supposition" (a 15th century addition). The "fraudulent" and "illegitimate" meanings of "supposititious" trace back to "supponere" in a fairly direct route, whereas the "imaginary" and "hypothetical" meanings were influenced by the meanings of "supposition." In legal contexts, "supposititious" is primarily used in its earlier senses, as in "a supposititious (fraudulent) will" or "the child was supposititious (illegitimate)." When something hypothetical is being considered, the adjective "suppositious" is often preferred over "supposititious."
Origin and Etymology of supposititious
First Known Use: 1600See Words from the same year
Seen and Heard
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