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guess

/gɛs/

/gɛs/

Other forms: guessed; guessing; guesses

When you don't know the answer but you have to say something, you're taking a guess.

When you don't know the answer on a test, you have to guess. People on game shows guess when they're not sure. There are wild guesses (when you have no idea) and educated guesses (when you have some information to work with). Trying to guess someone's age or weight is usually a bad idea, especially if you guess too old or heavy. If the teacher doesn't show up, you could say, "I guess there's no class today.”

Definitions of guess
  1. verb
    expect, believe, or suppose
    “I guess she is angry at me for standing her up”
    synonyms: imagine, opine, reckon, suppose, think
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    types:
    suspect
    hold in suspicion; believe to be guilty
    type of:
    anticipate, expect
    regard something as probable or likely
  2. verb
    put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation
    “I am guessing that the price of real estate will rise again”
    synonyms: hazard, pretend, venture
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    types:
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    anticipate, call, forebode, foretell, predict, prognosticate, promise
    make a prediction about; tell in advance
    surmise, suspect
    imagine to be the case or true or probable
    read
    interpret the significance of, as of palms, tea leaves, intestines, the sky; also of human behavior
    outguess, second-guess
    attempt to anticipate or predict
    augur
    predict from an omen
    bet, wager
    maintain with or as if with a bet
    calculate, forecast, project
    predict in advance
    prophesy, vaticinate
    predict or reveal through, or as if through, divine inspiration
    type of:
    speculate
    talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion
  3. verb
    judge tentatively or form an estimate of (quantities or time)
    synonyms: approximate, estimate, gauge, judge
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    types:
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    quantise, quantize
    approximate (a signal varying continuously in amplitude) by one whose amplitude is restricted to a prescribed set of discrete values
    misgauge
    gauge something incorrectly or improperly
    place, put, set
    estimate
    give
    estimate the duration or outcome of something
    lowball, underestimate
    make a deliberately low estimate
    assess
    estimate the value of (property) for taxation
    make
    calculate as being
    count, reckon
    take account of
    truncate
    approximate by ignoring all terms beyond a chosen one
    guesstimate
    estimate based on a calculation
    type of:
    calculate, cipher, compute, cypher, figure, reckon, work out
    make a mathematical calculation or computation
  4. verb
    guess correctly; solve by guessing
    “He guessed the right number of beans in the jar and won the prize”
    synonyms: infer
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    types:
    tell
    discern or comprehend
    type of:
    figure out, lick, puzzle out, solve, work, work out
    find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of
  5. noun
    an estimate based on little or no information
    synonyms: dead reckoning, guessing, guesswork, shot
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    type of:
    approximation, estimate, estimation, idea
    an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth
  6. noun
    a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
    synonyms: conjecture, hypothesis, speculation, supposition, surmisal, surmise
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    types:
    divination
    successful conjecture by unusual insight or good luck
    type of:
    opinion, view
    a message expressing a belief about something; the expression of a belief that is held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof
Pronunciation
US

/gɛs/

UK

/gɛs/

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