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: a thought or idea based on scanty evidence : conjecture
surmised; surmising
Synonyms
Example Sentences
Noun
my surmise is that the couple's “good news” is the announcement that they are going to have a baby
Verb
We can only surmise what happened.
He must have surmised that I was not interested.
Recent Examples on the Web
Melissa Healystaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2022
Instead, Rodrigues and Ohlrogge surmise, the glut of retail investors are probably not showing up for the vote.
—Scott Nover, Quartz, 7 Sep. 2022
More plausible, Bierson and his team surmise, is a scenario in which Pluto formed over a mere 30,000 years as rocks, just a few inches wide and drawn in towards the planet by its own gravity, pelted the nascent world’s surface.
—Popular Science, 29 June 2020
Scientists cite several layers of evidence to support their surmises.
—Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2020
To make sense of a correspondence, however complete or incomplete, is to constellate fragmentary evidence, and make surmises about what is missing (including what may not have been apparent to the letter-writers themselves).
—Langdon Hammer, The New York Review of Books, 25 Feb. 2020
Entertaining those that remained into Monday morning, of course, with enough crazy choreography to make any festival-goer surmise that those hand-out sandwiches may well have been dosed.
—Gary Graff, Billboard, 14 Aug. 2019
The wild surmise of his design sketches beguiled virtually all who saw them.
—Bill Wyman, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2020
His surmise that official Washington is less enamored of his border wall than are the participants at his campaign rallies is correct.
—James Freeman, WSJ, 29 Jan. 2020
Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2023
The shape of the crocodiles’ skulls and the arrangement of the bony armor on the crocodiles’ backs allowed the researchers to surmise that the animals represented two separate species, Crocodylus suchus and Crocodylus niloticus.
—Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 27 Jan. 2023
This discovery led researchers to surmise that whoever made the inscriptions likely used a drypoint knife or stylus without any ink.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Dec. 2022
From there, Cabella was able to surmise when, approximately, the pipe was made.
—Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 29 Oct. 2022
Tech experts surmise that Twitter’s decision to have people pay for API access is one in a long string of moneymaking attempts since the company came under Musk’s direction.
—Aj Willingham, CNN, 3 Feb. 2023
Kershaw, who has more wear and tear, one could surmise, from throwing 1,400 more major league innings (including postseason), but Kershaw was never obsessed with hitting triple digits on radar guns the way deGrom has done even late in his career.
—Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas News, 7 Dec. 2022
And yet, historians surmise Placidia would also have been exposed to, and perhaps adapted to, her captors’ way of life.
—Tony Perrottet, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Jan. 2023
The scientists surmise that the size of the etchings mattered.
—Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 15 June 2022
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Noun
One surmise is that the syndrome is caused by residual viral debris that continues to activate and/or exhaust the immune system.
—Melissa Healystaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 2022
Instead, Rodrigues and Ohlrogge surmise, the glut of retail investors are probably not showing up for the vote.
—Scott Nover, Quartz, 7 Sep. 2022
More plausible, Bierson and his team surmise, is a scenario in which Pluto formed over a mere 30,000 years as rocks, just a few inches wide and drawn in towards the planet by its own gravity, pelted the nascent world’s surface.
—Popular Science, 29 June 2020
Scientists cite several layers of evidence to support their surmises.
—Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2020
To make sense of a correspondence, however complete or incomplete, is to constellate fragmentary evidence, and make surmises about what is missing (including what may not have been apparent to the letter-writers themselves).
—Langdon Hammer, The New York Review of Books, 25 Feb. 2020
Entertaining those that remained into Monday morning, of course, with enough crazy choreography to make any festival-goer surmise that those hand-out sandwiches may well have been dosed.
—Gary Graff, Billboard, 14 Aug. 2019
The wild surmise of his design sketches beguiled virtually all who saw them.
—Bill Wyman, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2020
His surmise that official Washington is less enamored of his border wall than are the participants at his campaign rallies is correct.
—James Freeman, WSJ, 29 Jan. 2020
Verb
The audience is left to surmise Calum’s fate for themselves.
—Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2023
The shape of the crocodiles’ skulls and the arrangement of the bony armor on the crocodiles’ backs allowed the researchers to surmise that the animals represented two separate species, Crocodylus suchus and Crocodylus niloticus.
—Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 27 Jan. 2023
This discovery led researchers to surmise that whoever made the inscriptions likely used a drypoint knife or stylus without any ink.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Dec. 2022
From there, Cabella was able to surmise when, approximately, the pipe was made.
—Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 29 Oct. 2022
Tech experts surmise that Twitter’s decision to have people pay for API access is one in a long string of moneymaking attempts since the company came under Musk’s direction.
—Aj Willingham, CNN, 3 Feb. 2023
Kershaw, who has more wear and tear, one could surmise, from throwing 1,400 more major league innings (including postseason), but Kershaw was never obsessed with hitting triple digits on radar guns the way deGrom has done even late in his career.
—Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas News, 7 Dec. 2022
And yet, historians surmise Placidia would also have been exposed to, and perhaps adapted to, her captors’ way of life.
—Tony Perrottet, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Jan. 2023
The scientists surmise that the size of the etchings mattered.
—Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 15 June 2022
See More
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'surmise.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, allegation, charge, from Anglo-French, from feminine of surmis, past participle of surmettre to place on, suppose, accuse, from Medieval Latin supermittere, from Late Latin, to place on, from Latin super- + mittere to let go, send
Verb
Middle English, to allege, from surmise, noun
Articles Related to surmise
Dictionary Entries Near surmise
Cite this Entry
“Surmise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surmise. Accessed 24 Mar. 2023.
Kids Definition
surmise
2 of 2 noun
sur·mise
sər-ˈmīz 
ˈsər-ˌmīz
: a thought or idea based on little evidence : conjecture
More from Merriam-Webster on surmise
Nglish: Translation of surmise for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of surmise for Arabic Speakers
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