guess

1 of 2

verb

guessed; guessing; guesses

transitive verb

1
: to form an opinion of from little or no evidence
She could only guess what he meant.
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
We can only guess at what really happened.
guessable adjective
guesser noun

guess

2 of 2

noun

: conjecture, surmise
I don't know how old you are, but I'll venture a guess.

Examples of guess in a Sentence

Verb Can you guess how many people were there? He guessed that it would rain today. It was colder and windier than I had guessed it would be. She can only guess what he meant. I had to choose one, and I guessed right. If you can't think of an answer, guess. “I just heard why he left her.” “Let me guess—another woman.” As you might have guessed, her parents are not happy about her decision. We can only guess at what really happened. She guessed my age on her first try. Noun I'm not sure how old he is, but I'm willing to hazard a guess. My guess is that he'll change his story when he realizes how much trouble he's in. See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Fain said Thursday night that union workers at all three companies should be ready to join the strike immediately if called upon, so the automakers have to keep guessing about which factories could be hit next — pressuring them to bargain. Lauren Kaori Gurley, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2023 Human writing tends to rate higher than AI writing on both metrics, which allowed Tian to guess how a piece of text had been created. Christopher Beam, WIRED, 14 Sep. 2023 Ensuring an executive’s identity remains their own requires a more complex approach to passwords that are longer, stronger, and harder for someone else to guess. Chintan Patel, Fortune, 12 Sep. 2023 The widgets are customizable, and watchOS gains a Smart Stack widget, which uses machine learning to guess which widgets will be most important to you at points throughout your day. Wes Davis, The Verge, 12 Sep. 2023 No one will guess this meal uses basic leftover chicken. Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 12 Sep. 2023 Fans, however, have long guessed it was inspired by her split with her High School Musial: The Musical: The Series co-star Joshua Bassett, who then allegedly struck up a relationship with another fellow Disney actor, Sabrina Carpenter. Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2023 In some ways, the best practices for math parallel the science of reading, which emphasizes detailed, explicit instruction in phonics, instead of letting kids guess how to read a word based on pictures or context clues. Sharon Lurye, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Sep. 2023 But seriously, who would have guessed Noah would score the first touchdown of the Cowboys’ season? Kristi Scales, Dallas News, 11 Sep. 2023
Noun
Here are some of the iPhone 15 rumors and guesses from the tech community that didn't come true. Will Greenwald, PCMAG, 13 Sep. 2023 The installation date for the new system is anyone’s guess. Ndaschel, oregonlive, 12 Sep. 2023 How Lars Ulrich still drums like that at 59 is anybody’s guess. Ed Masley, The Arizona Republic, 10 Sep. 2023 My guess is, Burrow looks OK, but this is more of a get-back-into-a-rhythm game for him than anything. Ashley Bastock, cleveland, 9 Sep. 2023 But exactly when those trains will return is anyone’s guess. John Sharp | Jsharp@al.com, al, 9 Sep. 2023 The guess here is Clowney will play a lot of snaps and vie with the still-improving Madubuike for the team sack lead. Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 7 Sep. 2023 If your guess is Hawaii, the Maldives, or Bali, think again. Isabelle Kliger, Vogue, 6 Sep. 2023 Whether the strikes end in the fall, January or somewhere in between — or beyond — is anyone’s guess. Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'guess.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb and Noun

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

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of guess was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near guess

Cite this Entry

“Guess.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guess. Accessed 26 Sep. 2023.

Kids Definition

guess

verb
ˈges
1
: to form an opinion from little or no evidence
2
: to solve correctly by or as if by chance
we guessed the riddle
3
: believe sense 5, suppose
I guess you're right
guess noun
guesser noun

More from Merriam-Webster on guess

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