GUESS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Guess

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/gɛs/ Listen

verb

Guess v. t. (past & past part. guessed; pres. part. guessing)

1.

To form an opinion concerning, without knowledge or means of knowledge; to judge of at random; to conjecture. "First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess."

2.

To judge or form an opinion of, from reasons that seem preponderating, but are not decisive. "We may then guess how far it was from his design." "Of ambushed men, whom, by their arms and dress, To be Taxallan enemies I guess."

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.

4.

To hit upon or reproduce by memory. (Obs.) "Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them."

5.

To think; to suppose; to believe; to imagine; followed by an objective clause. "Not all together; better far, I guess, That we do make our entrance several ways." "But in known images of life I guess The labor greater."

Synonyms: To conjecture; suppose; surmise; suspect; divine; think; imagine; fancy. 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.

Guess v. i. To make a guess or random judgment; to conjecture; with at, about, etc. "This is the place, as well as I may guess."

noun

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. "A poet must confess His art 's like physic but a happy guess."

See images of 'Guess'

Etymology of 'Guess'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Guess" Quotes from Famous Books

... prevent her carrying out her will. And therefore, my dear boy, you ought not to be surprised that to deceive that old Mordecai was but child's play for Jahel, whose perverse spirit is made up of all the cuteness of our she-geldings and the perfidy of the Orient. I guess her to be as ardent in sensual pleasure, as greedy after gold and silver; altogether a worthy descendant of the race of ...

— The Queen Pedauque • Anatole France

... soldiers all in trim and was about to leave Fort Union, Kit Carson, who had been watching him from a nail keg upon which he was sitting, came up to him and slapped Willis' horse on the hip, saying: "Willis, I guess I had better go with you; if you go down there alone, them red devils will never let you return." "Kit," said Colonel Willis, "That is what I want you to do, and we will wait for you." But Kit Carson needed no time to prepare, he threw ...

— The Second William Penn - A true account of incidents that happened along the - old Santa Fe Trail • William H. Ryus

... listening to the rush and bubble of the water, feeling the blows and recoils of the unending battle, hearkening anxiously to the straining of the timbers and the vessel's agonised complainings under the pounding of the seas. We do not know what his thoughts were; but we may guess that they looked backward rather than forward, and that often they must have been prayers that the present misery would come somehow or other to an end. Up on deck brother Bartholomew, who has developed some grievous complaint of the jaws and teeth—complaint not known to us more ...

— Christopher Columbus, Complete • Filson Young

... for Europe is imminent. Raymond had a tepid, awkward parting with his mother, whose headaches would not allow her to go to the train; and he shook hands rather coldly and constrainedly with his father, who would have welcomed, as I guess, some slight show of filial warmth, and he threw an embarrassedly facetious word to me about the weight of his portmanteau, and so was off. And it was years, rather than months, ...

— On the Stairs • Henry B. Fuller

... little cut down at learning that his idea had been used already, cudgelled his wits to imagine what animal could have devoured the lion; but he could not guess it, and so quietly went on scanning the appearance ...

— Five Weeks in a Balloon • Jules Verne

Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com