guess

verb

\ ˈges

guessed; guessing; guesses

Definition of guess

(Entry 1 of 2)

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.

guess

noun

Definition of guess (Entry 2 of 2)

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

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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.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

But guess how much my dry-cleaning bill was last month? — Michele Petry, House Beautiful, "Save Hundreds in Dry-Cleaning Bills With This At-Home Laundry Trick," 2 Apr. 2019 And guess what Ryan just made his header on Twitter...yup, palm trees. 3. — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, "6 Signs That Taylor Swift is Coming Out with a New Album," 26 Feb. 2019 In the midst of a week that has seen May parrying threats to her hold on power, Trump second-guessed her handling of the main issue on her plate: how Britain should cut its ties to the European Union. — BostonGlobe.com, "At NATO, Trump claims allies make new defense spending commitments after he upends summit," 13 July 2018 Savoring the suspense, Trump has sought to keep people guessing in the final hours, hoping to replicate his successful announcement of Justice Neil Gorsuch. — Catherine Lucey, chicagotribune.com, "Trump nears decision on replacement for Supreme Court," 8 July 2018 Savoring the suspense, Trump has sought to keep people guessing in the final hours, hoping to replicate his successful announcement of Justice Neil Gorsuch last year. — Washington Post, "Trump still pondering Supreme Court pick as big reveal nears," 8 July 2018 Over on the Becca Instagram account, a video of a shimmering pool of glitter has fans guessing. — Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, "Becca and Chrissy Teigen Teased a Glittery New Beauty Product on Instagram," 18 June 2018 As is his typical approach, James will soak it all in and keep the media and fans guessing until the very last moment. — The Crossover Staff, SI.com, "Forecasting The King's Future: Which Team Best Suits LeBron James?," 13 June 2018 People who are searching for good enough are not second-guessing themselves. — Rachel Sugar, Vox, "The best doesn’t exist. A psychologist explains why we can’t stop searching.," 12 Dec. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Whether Musk can top himself is anyone's guess, but future launches can undoubtedly expect the same level of showmanship. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "One Year On, the Falcon Heavy's Successful Launch Is Still Incredible," 6 Feb. 2019 Clearly, at this point, Biebwin's relationship status is anyone's guess. — Andrea Park, Teen Vogue, "Hailey Baldwin and Justin Bieber's Relationship Has Been "Meant to Be" for a While, per Cousin Ireland Baldwin," 24 Sep. 2018 Our guess is Couture, considering that Queen Bey seemed to have looks created exclusively for the wedding, and went brunette to complement them. — Carrie Goldberg, Harper's BAZAAR, "This Star-Studded Indian Wedding Is an Even Bigger Event Than Priyanka & Nick's Nuptials," 11 Dec. 2018 In the first case, judicial conservatives wanted to second-guess Congress regarding the impact of its legislating on interstate commerce. — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, "Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation will delegitimize the Supreme Court — and that’s good," 5 Oct. 2018 Pippa’s exact due date isn’t publicly known, and this all just stems from some very logical guess work. — Lucy Wood, Marie Claire, "Why Kate Middleton May Be a No-Show at Princess Eugenie's Wedding," 7 Aug. 2018 Maybe a family-friendly romp forcing him to second-guess a few of his baser instincts might finally yield something special. — Tom Philip, GQ, "Eli Roth Made a Horror Movie... For Kids?," 27 Mar. 2018 Matrimonial law firms tend to be on the smaller side, but my guess is that in this case each side would have a main lawyer who is a quarterback leading a team of partners and other lawyers working on it. — Norman Vanamee, Town & Country, "The Jeff and Mackenzie Bezos Divorce: One Lawyer Explains How to Split the World’s Biggest Fortune," 10 Jan. 2019 My best guess is the housing market really comes into a soft landing. — Laura Kusisto, WSJ, "Once-Hot Housing Market Likely to Cool Further in 2019," 23 Dec. 2018

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