postulate

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• transitive verb To assume or assert the truth, reality, or necessity of, especially as a basis of an argument.
• transitive verb To propose as a hypothesis or explanation.
• transitive verb To assume as a premise or axiom; take for granted.
• transitive verb Archaic To make claim for; demand.
• noun Something assumed without proof as being self-evident or generally accepted, especially when used as a basis for an argument.
• noun A fundamental element; a basic principle.
• noun Mathematics An axiom.
• noun Archaic A requirement; a prerequisite.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Postulated; assumed.
• To invite; solicit; require by entreaty. See def. 3.
• To assume without proof; lay down as something which has to be assumed, although it cannot be proved; take for granted.
• In ecclesiastical law, to ask legitimate ecclesiastical authority to admit (a nominee) by dispensation, when a canonical impediment is supposed to exist. Lee, Glossary.
• To make postulates or demands; urge a suit.
• noun A petition; a suit; solicitation.
• noun A proposition proposed for acceptance without proof; something taken for granted; an assumption.
• noun A self-evident practical proposition, to the effect that something is possible: opposed to an axiom, as a self-evident proposition that something is impossible.
• noun A condition for the accomplishment of anything.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun Something demanded or asserted; especially, a position or supposition assumed without proof, or one which is considered as self-evident; a truth to which assent may be demanded or challenged, without argument or evidence.
• noun (Geom.) The enunciation of a self-evident problem, in distinction from an axiom, which is the enunciation of a self-evident theorem.
• adjective obsolete Postulated.
• transitive verb To beg, or assume without proof.
• transitive verb To take without express consent; to assume.
• transitive verb obsolete To invite earnestly; to solicit.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Something assumed without proof as being self-evident or generally accepted, especially when used as a basis for an argument.
• noun A fundamental element; a basic principle.
• noun logic An axiom.
• noun A requirement; a prerequisite.
• verb To assume as a truthful or accurate premise or axiom, especially as a basis of an argument.
• verb transitive, intransitive (Christianity, historical) To appoint or request one's appointment to an ecclesiastical office.
• verb transitive, intransitive (obsolete) To request, demand or claim for oneself.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun (logic) a proposition that is accepted as true in order to provide a basis for logical reasoning
• verb take as a given; assume as a postulate or axiom
• verb maintain or assert
• verb require as useful, just, or proper