surmises 1 of 2

plural of surmise
as in guesses
an opinion or judgment based on little or no evidence my surmise is that the couple's "good news" is the announcement that they are going to have a baby

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

surmises

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of surmise

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of surmises
Noun
Nothing in your life has dissuaded you from these early surmises. — Padgett Powell, Harpers Magazine, 30 June 2026
Verb
Many Spaniards lived or even committed atrocities in the Civil War, suffering a collective guilt, Ruiz Capillas surmises. — John Hopewell, Variety, 12 Aug. 2026 Evans surmises the fish that survived were in an area of the creek where less charred material and sediment were swept in. — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2026 Upon entering the house, Donnie surmises there is an orgy-type party going on. — Demetrius Patterson, HollywoodReporter, 11 Feb. 2026 Cohen surmises that the home was the first on the block. — Culture Critic, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Jan. 2026 Morgan correctly surmises that a misdelivered piece of mail was a move by the Game Master and not just a fuckup by the postal service. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 17 Sep. 2025 In the study, Ned correctly surmises that Colum riled Dougal up into beating Malcolm so that Colum could be seen as the cooler head/better leader. — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 8 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surmises
Noun
  • And investors face a fresh round of guesses about how quickly renewable energy use could grow – especially as oil prices stay high.
    — The Conversation, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Below are all of our guesses on what’s still on the showgirl’s mind in between the main act and the encore.
    — Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The narrator assumes his gift for retail politics will charm his old friend; Micah laughs in his face.
    — Ryan Chapman, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Hardly anyone assumes that exact values for pc can be determined.
    — Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 30 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Rock* supposes there’s a fork in the road where the Beatles take us one way and the Velvet Underground pull us somewhere else entirely.
    — Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Book banning supposes that children never age, never leave home, never become their own people outside their parents.
    — Rebecca Stafford, PEOPLE, 1 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Her exit comes as the industry speculates wildly about the fate of other division leaders across both companies.
    — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The Instagram caption speculates the albino shark was somewhere between eight and nine feet long.
    — David Hookstead OutKick, FOXNews.com, 23 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Lucie Neouze Lucie Neouze thinks of getting dressed as building a city on the body, treating garments as architecture in motion.
    — Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2026
  • But Deutsche’s Kraft thinks investors are missing the bigger picture.
    — Fred Imbert, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Homeownership has long been a marker of the American Dream, but this dream presumes autonomy, voice and equitable treatment.
    — Stephanie A. Dhuman, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026
  • But that logic presumes every single aspect of both studios’ production pipelines will continue to operate normally once Paramount and WBD become one.
    — Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge, 22 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Balasubramanian suspects that even this kind of radical model doesn’t go far enough.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 25 Sep. 2026
  • British Columbia suspects that OpenAI actually wanted to avoid drawing a hard line that would require OpenAI to report more violent users to the police and expose the public to more of the real-world threats that chatbots could pose.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2026

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Surmises.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surmises. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!