MEANING
To decide what is true too quickly, before having enough information to justify the decision.
Use it for
criticizing a premature judgment; warning against an unsupported inference; asking someone to wait for more evidence; distinguishing a suspicion from an established factIdentifies an inference reached too quickly or with too little evidence, not merely a mistaken opinion. Writing functions: Judgment / Insufficient evidence. Semantic categories (by meaning): Judgment / Insufficient evidence. Contexts: General conversation; Creative prose.
Words that belong together
- jump to conclusions about someone
- jump to the conclusion that
On the page
One missing receipt is not a reason to jump to conclusions about fraud.
She nearly jumped to conclusions before reading the second half of the message.
Word forms
- Base
- jump to conclusions
Usage notes
Verbal idiom: jump/jumps/jumped/jumping to conclusions. Jump to a conclusion also occurs; leap to conclusions is an established alternative. Register: neutral. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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