conjecture

conjecture vb Conjecture, surmise, guess are comparable as verbs, meaning to draw an inference from slight evi-dence, and as nouns, denoting an inference based upon such evidence.

Conjecture implies formation of an opinion or judgment upon what is recognized as insufficient evidence

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Washington conjectured that at least 300 of the enemy were killed— Amer. Guide Series: Pa.

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mysteries which must explain themselves are not worth the loss of time which a conjecture about them takes up— Sterne

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Surmise implies still slighter evidence, and exercise of the imagination or indulgence in suspicion

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what thoughts he had beseems not me to say, though some surmise he went to fast and pray— Dryden

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just how long the small multiplied impressions will take to break into surmise . . . nobody can tell— Quiller-Couch

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we are not told what their business was but we may surmise it was the fur trade—G. F. Hudson

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Guess implies a hitting upon or an attempting to hit upon either at random or from insufficient, uncertain, or ambiguous evidence

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you would never guess from meeting them that anyone would pay them for their ideas— Rose Macaulay

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my daughter Lucie is . . . such a mystery to me; I can make no guess at the state of her heart— Dickens

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Analogous words: *infer; gather, conclude, judge, deduce: speculate, reason, *think: imagine, fancy, conceive (see THINK)

Contrasted words: ascertain, determine, learn, *discover: *prove, demonstrate, test, try

conjecture n surmise, guess (see under CONJECTURE vb)

Analogous words: theory, *hypothesis: *opinion, view, belief, sentiment: inference, deduction, conclusion, judgment (see under INFER)

Antonyms: fact