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I wanted to apologise for making incorrect assumptions in some correspondence and wrote "I apologise for my presumptive wording". Then I looked up "presumptive" and see it means:

Providing a reasonable basis for belief or acceptance

Not at all what I was trying to say. What adjective should I have used?

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Presumptuous

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    I suppose it is the right word in contrast to OP's presumptive", but presumtuous is a pretty "loaded" term, which I think is well-defined as going beyond what is right or proper; excessively forward. Personally, I'd feel more comfortable apologising for simply having made incorrect assumptions.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 25, 2011 at 15:05
  • Ah, yes, that's the word, funny how its pretty much unrelated to "presumptive". But I think in future I'll go with a direct apology for the assumption because I assumed rather than presumed.
    – Glish
    Commented Nov 27, 2011 at 19:50
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You're making this too hard. If you want to apologize for your incorrect assumptions, just say, "I apologize for my incorrect assumptions." If you want to avoid saying you were wrong, you can say, "I apologize for my hasty assumptions."

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