extrapolate
verb
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The Many Uses of Extrapolate
Scientists worry about the greenhouse effect because they have extrapolated the rate of carbon-dioxide buildup and predicted that its effect on the atmosphere will become increasingly severe. On the basis of their extrapolations, they have urged governments and businesses to limit factory and automobile emissions. Notice that it's acceptable to speak of extrapolating existing data (to produce new data), extrapolating from existing data (to produce new data), or extrapolating new data (from existing data)—in other words, it isn't easy to use this word wrong.
Examples of extrapolate in a Sentence
ArsTechnica, 10 Apr. 2025
In this way black metal has been at times closer to the anti-natalist philosophy of Emil Cioran and the pessimism or Eugene Thacker — writers who essentially extrapolated H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional mythos into full-fledged philosophy.
—Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 30 Mar. 2025
Pitchers are riskier, their amateur successes harder to extrapolate to the big leagues, and the Pirates already had several promising young starters.
—Bruce Schoenfeld Robert Fass Tanya Pérez Brian St. Pierre, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
Voice cloning technology works by taking an audio sample of a person speaking and then extrapolating that person’s voice into a synthetic audio file.
—Kevin Collier, NBC News, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for extrapolate
Cite this Entry
“Extrapolate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extrapolate. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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extrapolate
verb
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