- propose
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Analogous words: *aim, aspire: plan, plot, scheme, project (see under PLAN n)2 Propose, propound, pose can all mean to set before the mind for consideration.Propose (see also INTEND) fundamentally implies an invitation to consider, discuss, settle, or agree on some question or some proposition clearly stated{
in the last chapter I proposed the hypothesis that a pure poetry exists—Day Lewis
}{someone proposed that he had really done it the night before by moonlight— Stafford
}or an offering for consideration or acceptance of someone as a candidate or aspirant or of something by way of a suggestion{he proposed Mr. Smith for secretary of the club
}{propose marriage
}{with a swarm of fantastic reforms being every day suggested . . . perhaps we may propose one as fantastic as any other— Sullivan
}Propound implies the stating of a question or proposition for discussion; it usually suggests neither personal bias nor an attempt to prove or disprove on the part of the one setting it forth or in the manner of setting it forth. The term is therefore often used when the writer or speaker wishes to convey no implications of how the one propounding would answer the question or deal with the proposition{the query is propounded whether the privilege should be accorded to a physician of putting a patient painlessly out of the world when there is incurable disease— Cardozo
}{propound the thesis that the great artist is an unconscious artist— T. S. Eliot
}{if we may judge from his . . . facility in the propounding of theories— Huxley
}Pose often equals propound, except that it frequently implies that no attempt will be o'r can be made to seek an immediate answer{the problems posed by this situation in the control of cancer and diseases of the heart are receiving the most serious study— Morrison
}{I shall try at least to pose basic issues that underlie all our political problems— Frankfurter
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
