guess

verb \ ˈges \

|Updated on: 11 Aug 2018

Examples: guess in a Sentence

Definition of guess

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

play \ˈge-sə-bəl\ adjective

—

guesser

noun

See guess defined for English-language learners

See guess defined for kids

Examples of guess in a Sentence

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.

Recent Examples of guess from the Web

Who would have guessed automatic word wrap was a 2018 new feature?

— aaron pressman, Fortune, "Data Sheet—Maybe We Should Be Storing Everything as Plain Text," 13 July 2018
Lovullo guessed that the injury might have occurred on pitch No. 33 or No. 34.

— nick piecoro, azcentral, "Shelby Miller hurt again as Diamondbacks are trounced," 11 July 2018
And after a few weeks of blissful silence, guess who’s back?

— lynn yaeger, Vogue, "Hurled DNA Kits, "Handmaidens," and More (Mostly Bad) News from Washington This Week," 8 July 2018
The sharp-eyed reader will have guessed the identity of one of his acolytes: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (pictured left).

— The Economist, "When Arthur Conan Doyle cried “J’Accuse…!”," 7 July 2018
But after this media session, one thing could not be second-guessed: Gardenhire was back to full speed.

— anthony fenech, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire returns to dugout," 6 July 2018
Californians estimated 22 percent, Texans guessed 21 percent and Floridians took credit for an average of 19 percent of all American history.

— josh magness, miamiherald, "How important is your state? Probably not nearly as important as you think, study says," 3 July 2018
Youngsters also can guess the number of items in a jar for a prize, and a kiddie pool fishing game with magnets will be available for the younger children.

— sheryl devore, Lake County News-Sun, "Give fishing a try at annual Gurnee event," 3 July 2018
When asked by Entertainment Weekly to cast their ideal adult counterpoints, both Finn and Sophia guessed correctly — Finn wanted Bill Hader and Sophia wanted Jessica Chastain.

— claire dodson, Teen Vogue, ""It: Chapter 2" Has Started Filming and the Losers Club Is Complete," 2 July 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.

Origin and Etymology 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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

guess Synonyms

guess

noun

Definition of guess

: conjecture, surmise

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

See guess defined for English-language learners

Examples of guess in a Sentence

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 of guess from the Web

In the photos, the suspect appears to be a young male, but police say any further description would be a guess at this point.

— y.c. orozco, Houston Chronicle, "Pasadena cops seek man who allegedly exposed himself to resident," 14 June 2018
Where the Tigers will end up playing in an NCAA regional starting Friday is anybody's guess.

— ron higgins, NOLA.com, "LSU lives to fight another weekend after SEC championship game loss," 27 May 2018
The numbers are only a rough guess: a rebasing of the calculation next month may add more to Ghana’s GDP than several years of actual growth.

— The Economist, "Africa’s economies are turning a corner," 10 May 2018
The small gift to the respondents was a guess about their background.

— dana g. smith, Scientific American, "At What Age Does Our Ability to Learn a New Language Like a Native Speaker Disappear?," 4 May 2018
So while this is a guess, let’s peg it at around 20 years ago.

— joanna robinson, HWD, "Westworld: Unraveling the Baffling Time Jumps of “The Reunion”," 29 Apr. 2018
Our guess is that this will be true even if President Trump nominates another Justice Gorsuch.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "Are Democrats Crying Wolf on Threat to Abortion Rights?," 3 July 2018
My guess is the Reds wanted more power, and more of a projectable hitter, and fourth outfielders should be easy to find.

— sam mellinger, kansascity, "Mellinger Minutes: No M.D. for Chiefs' LDT, finding Royals hope (and an All-Star)," 26 June 2018
Our guess is a hell of a lot more than any of us will ever have in our checking accounts.

— refinery29.com, "This 18-Year-Old Looks Like Ariana Grande & Demi Lovato Combined," 25 June 2018

Origin and Etymology of guess

see ¹guess

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

guess Synonyms

Synonyms

conjecture, shot, supposition, surmise;

dead reckoning, guessing, guesswork, speculation;

hunch, intuition;

belief, faith;

Phrases

shot in the dark;

GUESS Defined for English Language Learners

guess

verb

Definition of guess for English Language Learners

: to form an opinion or give an answer about something when you do not know much or anything about it
: to guess (something) correctly : to make a correct conclusion about (someone or something) by chance
: to suppose or think (something)