Guess \Guess\ (g[e^]s), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Guessed; p. pr. &
vb. n. Guessing.] [OE. gessen; akin to Dan. gisse, Sw.
gissa, Icel. gizha, D. gissen: cf. Dan. giette to guess,
Icel. geta to get, to guess. Probably originally, to try to
get, and akin to E. get. See Get.]
1. To form an opinion concerning, without knowledge or means
of knowledge; to judge of at random; to conjecture.
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First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess.
--Pope.
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2. To judge or form an opinion of, from reasons that seem
preponderating, but are not decisive.
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We may then guess how far it was from his design.
--Milton.
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Of ambushed men, whom, by their arms and dress,
To be Taxallan enemies I guess. --Dryden.
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3. To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly;
as, he who guesses the riddle shall have the ring; he has
guessed my designs.
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4. To hit upon or reproduce by memory. [Obs.]
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Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess
them. --Shak.
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5. To think; to suppose; to believe; to imagine; -- followed
by an objective clause.
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Not all together; better far, I guess,
That we do make our entrance several ways. --Shak.
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But in known images of life I guess
The labor greater. --Pope.
Syn: To conjecture; suppose; surmise; suspect; divine; think;
imagine; fancy.
Usage: To Guess, Think, Reckon. Guess denotes, to
attempt to hit upon at random; as, to guess at a thing
when blindfolded; to conjecture or form an opinion on
hidden or very slight grounds: as, to guess a riddle;
to guess out the meaning of an obscure passage. The
use of the word guess for think or believe, although
abundantly sanctioned by good English authors, is now
regarded as antiquated and objectionable by
discriminating writers. It may properly be branded as
a colloguialism and vulgarism when used respecting a
purpose or a thing about which there is no
uncertainty; as, I guess I 'll go to bed.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Guess \Guess\, v. i.
To make a guess or random judgment; to conjecture; -- with
at, about, etc.
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This is the place, as well as I may guess. --Milton.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Guess \Guess\, n.
An opinion as to anything, formed without sufficient or
decisive evidence or grounds; an attempt to hit upon the
truth by a random judgment; a conjecture; a surmise.
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A poet must confess
His art 's like physic -- but a happy guess. --Dryden.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
guess
n 1: a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
[syn: conjecture, supposition, surmise, surmisal,
speculation, hypothesis]
2: an estimate based on little or no information [syn: guesswork,
guessing, shot, dead reckoning]
v 1: expect, believe, or suppose; "I imagine she earned a lot of
money with her new novel"; "I thought to find her in a
bad state"; "he didn't think to find her in the
kitchen"; "I guess she is angry at me for standing her
up" [syn: think, opine, suppose, imagine, reckon]
2: put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation; "I
am guessing that the price of real estate will rise
again"; "I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong" [syn:
venture, pretend, hazard]
3: judge tentatively or form an estimate of (quantities or
time); "I estimate this chicken to weigh three pounds"
[syn: estimate, gauge, approximate, judge]
4: guess correctly; solve by guessing; "He guessed the right
number of beans in the jar and won the prize" [syn: infer]
WordNet (r) 2.0
173 Moby Thesaurus words for "guess":
account as, answer, appraise, appreciate, assess, assume,
assumption, be afraid, believe, blind bargain, blind guess,
bold conjecture, borderline case, bottom, call, cast a horoscope,
cast a nativity, chance, class, clear up, conceive, conclude,
conjecture, consider, contingency, crack, daresay, debug, decipher,
decode, deduce, deem, disentangle, divine, do, dope, dope out,
double contingency, dowse for water, esteem, estimate, evaluate,
expect, explain, fancy, fathom, feel, feeling, figure, figure out,
find out, find the answer, find the solution, forebode, forecast,
foresee, foretell, form an estimate, fortune-tell, gamble, gauge,
get, get right, give a guess, give an appreciation, guess right,
guesstimate, guesswork, hariolate, have a hunch, have an idea,
have an impression, have an inkling, have it, have the idea,
hazard a conjecture, hit it, hold, hold as, hunch, hypothesis,
hypothesize, imagine, interpret, judge, judgement, look upon as,
maintain, make a prediction, make a prognosis, make a prophecy,
make an estimation, make out, mark, measure, open question,
open the lock, opine, perhaps, piece of guesswork, plumb,
postulate, predict, prefigure, presage, presume, pretend, prize,
prognosticate, prophesy, psych, psych out, puzzle out, question,
rank, rate, ravel, ravel out, read palms, read tea leaves,
read the future, reason, reckon, regard, resolve, riddle,
risk assuming, rough guess, set down as, shot,
sight-unseen transaction, solve, soothsay, sort out, speculate,
speculation, stab, suppose, supposition, surmise, suspect,
suspicion, take, take for, take it, tell fortunes, tell the future,
tentatively suggest, theory, think, toss-up, touch and go, trow,
undecided issue, undo, unlock, unravel, unriddle, unscramble,
untangle, untwist, unverified supposition, unweave, valuate, value,
vaticinate, venture a guess, view as, wager, ween, wild guess,
work, work out
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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