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

When an actual murder occurs, guess who become the prime suspects? — Randy Myers, The Mercury News, "Weekend movies: ‘Men in Black,’ ‘Shaft’ are back," 11 June 2019 While a majority of his pitches were fastballs, Clevinger kept the Yard Goats guessing. — Marc Bona, cleveland.com, "Indians’ Mike Clevinger looks strong in rehab start in Akron (video)," 11 June 2019 The future of the postwar order won in battles like D-Day is anyone’s guess. — James Mcauley, Washington Post, "On D-Day anniversary, ‘America First’ doesn’t sit well on the beaches of Normandy," 5 June 2019 What that means exactly is anybody’s guess—neither the Department of Justice nor the Marshals Service is eager to dispense any detail on the program’s inner workings, which seems reasonable enough. — Popular Mechanics, "How the Witness Protection Program Decides Where To Send People," 8 Feb. 2019 Despite there being very little clues regarding the collab, fans have already started guessing. — Lauren Rearick, Teen Vogue, "Christian Siriano Is Working on Something for Taylor Swift," 17 Apr. 2019 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

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

And my guess is Rubio signs somewhere for more than two years. — K.c. Johnson, chicagotribune.com, "Bulls Q&A: Is a Lonzo Ball trade happening? How about signing D'Angelo Russell or Derrick Rose in free agency?," 13 June 2019 My guess is that your credit card slipped under the carpet. — Ray Magliozzi, courant.com, "Car Talk: Toyota Camry seems to swallow driver’s credit card," 9 June 2019 Take your guesses before season 8 airs this summer. — Mackenzie Dunn, Woman's Day, "Meet The Cast of 'Dance Moms' Season 8," 19 May 2019 Sophie didn't specify who the other one was, but my guess is her J-Sister, future sister-in-law and other BFF Priyanka Chopra. — Katherine J. Igoe, Marie Claire, "Sophie Turner Just Revealed One of the TWO Maids of Honor at Her Upcoming Wedding," 4 Apr. 2019 Their best guess was that a STEVE originated in the ionosphere, an upper part of the Earth's atmosphere. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "The Science Behind Earth's Strangest Light Phenomena," 29 Apr. 2019 Our best guess is the photos turned out just fine, regardless of the drama. — Abby Gardner, Glamour, "A Bride Told Her Pregnant Bridesmaid to Stop 'Showing Off' Her Belly in Photos," 14 Mar. 2019 Our best guess is the photos turned out just fine, regardless of the drama. — Abby Gardner, Allure, "Bride Goes Viral for Telling Pregnant Bridesmaid to Stop "Showing Off" Her Belly in Wedding Photos," 14 Mar. 2019 Some senators are thought to support or oppose Kavanaugh based on educated guesses, but this tracker will stick to their public statements on the nominee. — Alvin Chang, Vox, "Brett Kavanaugh confirmation tracker: where every senator stands on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee," 26 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.