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Verb

When the noun "conjecture" entered English in the 14th century, it referred to the act of interpreting signs or omens (as for making prognostications). That sense is now obsolete, but by the 16th century both the noun and verb "conjecture" had acquired the meanings of speculation and inference that we use today. "Conjecture" derived via Middle English and Middle French from the Latin verb conicere ("to throw together"), a combination of "com-" ("together") and "jacere" ("to throw").

Examples of conjecture in a Sentence

Noun Whether Columbus brought syphilis to the New World—or to the Old World—has been the subject of conjecture for at least 500 years. — Carl Zimmer, Science, 11 May 2001 … their voices rose in a chorus of conjecture and alarm, repeating the selfsame remark: "What is she going to do? I mean, is Betty going to faint?" — Edna O'Brien, New Yorker, 1 Jan. 1990 The reason why the French with superior man-power and American resources were doing so poorly was not beyond all conjecture. — Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly, 1984 Peculiar features of early maps, which may have been nothing but a draftsman's whimsy, have inspired pages of vain conjecture. — Samuel Eliot Morison, The European Discovery of America, 1971 The biography includes conjectures about the writer's earliest ambitions. a conjecture about the extent of the injury Most of the book is conjecture, not fact. Verb It is fashionable now to conjecture that the Big Bang was caused by a random quantum fluctuation in a vacuum devoid of space and time. — Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, November/December 1998 Despairing of assistance and protection from below (as they foolishly conjecture) they talk of capitulating and coming upon terms with the French and Indians … — George Washington 24 Apr. 1776, in The Papers of George Washington, 1984 … their traces left for future archaeologists to rediscover and perhaps to wonder or conjecture over. — Jane Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations, 1984 I am anxious to conjecture beforehand what may be expected from the sowing turneps [sic] in jaded ground, how much from the acre, & how large they will be? — Thomas Jefferson, letter, 29 Dec. 1794 Some have conjectured that the distant planet could sustain life. We only conjecture about his motives.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Although Christie was only missing 11 days (she was discovered at a Yorkshire spa), and nearly 100 years have passed without a credible explanation, a cottage industry of conjecture continues to grow. — Washington Post, "Where did Agatha Christie go when she disappeared in 1926? Here’s one theory.," 29 Dec. 2020 Matyas is hopeful that the stay-at-home order and restrictions on non-essential travel may deter more people from traveling and gathering for Christmas and New Year’s, but it’s all conjecture at this point. — Kellie Hwang, SFChronicle.com, "Charts compare coronavirus crisis in each Bay Area county as holidays begin," 24 Dec. 2020 As such, there’s been heightened conjecture that Trump will finally realize what his presidency may have always been about in the first place: capitalizing on his burnished brand, and its fervent following, via a media venture of his own. — Rey Mashayekhi, Fortune, "In an era of political polarization, ‘Trump TV’ makes perfect sense," 27 Nov. 2020 From the start, there is a certain distaste and a leaning into conjecture that undermine the certainty of particular descriptions. — Greil Marcus, The New York Review of Books, "The Devil Had Nothing to Do With It," 17 Nov. 2020 Never mind Hawking’s conjecture that black holes destroy information. — John Horgan, Scientific American, "Will the Universe Remember Us after We're Gone?," 5 Nov. 2020 Already this is the subject of joyously irreverent Twitter conjecture. — Los Angeles Times, "Who is behind the fake Trump Presidential Library website? We talk to the anonymous architect," 7 Dec. 2020 That’s half the NFL. Prepare yourself for the avalanche of conjecture. — Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, "2021 NFL Mock Draft: First-round projections," 3 Dec. 2020 No car of past or present, not the Bugatti Royale, not the Ferrari 288 GTO, not even the Porsche 959, has been the subject of more conjecture, fascination, and awe than the outrageously exotic wedge from Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy. — Arthur St. Antoine, Car and Driver, "Tested: 1988 Prova Designs Countach Looks Like the Real Thing, But Isn't," 25 Nov. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb In fact, linguists now conjecture that language first arose among hominids to fulfill that most fundamental of impulses: the need to lie. — Bill Heavey, Field & Stream, "F&S Classics: The Art of Lying," 13 Dec. 2020 These blundering rhetorical sleights of hand have led some to conjecture that Trump Jr. might represent a more virulent strain of Trumpism, one more thoroughly committed to the goals his father only gestures at flirtatiously. — David Roth, The New Republic, "How Don Jr. Became the Future of Trumpism," 27 Oct. 2020 Even if scientists can still only conjecture about the origins of metabolism, these new results offer hope that answers may be in reach — if researchers ask the right questions. — Quanta Magazine, "New Clues to Chemical Origins of Metabolism at Dawn of Life," 12 Oct. 2020 O’Leary, the pediatric disease specialist, who himself has had intermittent, on-going COVID symptoms since March, has heard researchers conjecture about what could be driving long-haul symptoms. — Popular Science, "Some kids have been suffering from COVID-19 for months," 16 Sep. 2020 O’Leary, the pediatric disease specialist, who himself has had intermittent, on-going Covid symptoms since March, has heard researchers conjecture about what could be driving long-haul symptoms. — Megan E. Doherty, Smithsonian Magazine, "What Happens When Children’s Covid-19 Symptoms Won’t Go Away," 11 Sep. 2020 Experts conjecture that over the millennia as many as 50 percent of all the people who ever lived may have died of mosquito-borne diseases. — Bill Heavey, Field & Stream, "The 10 Deadliest Animals on Earth," 5 Aug. 2020 For each of these moonshines, the researchers conjectured, there is a string theory like the one in monstrous moonshine, in which the mock modular form counts the string states and the group captures the model’s symmetry. — Quanta Magazine, "Mathematicians Chase Moonshine’s Shadow," 12 Mar. 2015 The film conjectures that mushrooms are a large part of the reason humans and other species exist, because of their ability to decompose and create the conditions necessary for new life. — The Editors, Outside Online, "Everything Our Editors Loved in February," 3 Mar. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'conjecture.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.