guess

¹guess

verb \ˈges\

Definition of GUESS

transitive verb

1

: to form an opinion of from little or no evidence

2

: believe, suppose <I guess you're right>

3

: to arrive at a correct conclusion about by conjecture, chance, or intuition <guess the answer>

intransitive verb

: to make a guess

— guess·able \ˈge-sə-bəl\ adjective

— guess·er noun

Examples of GUESS

1. Can you guess how many people were there?
2. He guessed that it would rain today.
3. It was colder and windier than I had guessed it would be.
4. She can only guess what he meant.
5. I had to choose one, and I guessed right.
6. If you can't think of an answer, guess.
7. “I just heard why he left her.” “Let me guess—another woman.”
8. As you might have guessed, her parents are not happy about her decision.
9. We can only guess at what really happened.
10. She guessed my age on her first try.

Origin of GUESS

Middle English gessen, perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian & Swedish gissa to guess, Middle Dutch gissen, gessen, Old Norse geta to get, guess — more at get

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to GUESS

Synonyms: assume, conjecture, daresay, imagine, presume, speculate, suppose, surmise, suspect, suspicion [chiefly dialect]

Related Words: conclude, deduce, gather, infer; hypothecate, hypothesize, theorize; believe, conceive, expect, judge, reckon [chiefly dialect], take, think

Near Antonyms: demonstrate, document, establish, prove, substantiate, validate; ascertain, determine, find out, learn

see all synonyms and antonyms

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Rhymes with GUESS

bless, cess, chess, cress, dress, ess, fess, jess, less, loess, mess, ness, press, s, stress, tress, yes