guess

guess
1 /ges/ verb
1 WITHOUT BEING SURE (I, T) to try to answer a question or make a judgment about something without having all the necessary facts, so that you are not sure whether you are correct: I'd say he's around 50, but I'm only guessing. | guess what/who/how etc: Guess how much I had to pay - 3,000 pounds! | guess at: We can only guess at what caused the crash.
2 GUESS CORRECTLY (I, T) to guess something correctly
(+ from): “How did you know I won?” “I just guessed from the look on your face.” | guess that: I'd never have guessed that you two were brothers. | guess sth: You've guessed my secret. | have guessed as much (=have guessed something before someone tells you): He told me he was leaving, but I had already guessed as much.
3 I guess spoken especially AmE used to mean that you suppose something is true or likely: I guess I never married because I just didn't find the right girl. | I guess so/not: “She wasn't happy?” “I guess not.”
4 keep sb guessing to not tell someone what is going to happen next
5 guess what/you'll never guess spoken used when you are about to tell someone something that will surprise them: Guess what! Bradley's resigned. | You'll never guess who I saw today.
2 noun (C)
1 an attempt to guess something: If you're not sure of the answer give us your best guess. | I'll give you three guesses. | make a guess (at): I don't know the exact figure but I'll make a guess at it. | rough guess (=one that is unlikely to be exact): I'd say she's about 35, but that's only a rough guess. | wild guess (=one that is made without much thought) | have a guess at BrE
/take a guess at AmE (=try to guess something): Take a guess at what's in the third box and you could win a trip to Hawaii. | at a guess spoken (=used to mean that what you are saying is just a guess): The girl was twelve years old at a guess.
2 an opinion formed by guessing: my guess is: My guess is that there won't be many people there today.
3 be anybody's guess to be something that no one knows: What she's going to do with her life now is anybody's guess.
4 your guess is as good as mine spoken used to tell someone that you do not know any more than they do about something

Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 2004.

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Synonyms:
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Look at other dictionaries:

  • 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.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Guess? — Guess?, Inc. Tipo Pública (NYSE: GES) Fundación Los Ángeles, CA (1981) …   Wikipedia Español

  • guess — The informal use of I guess meaning ‘I think it likely, I suppose’ developed in America in the late 18c from the standard use of the phrase meaning ‘it is my opinion or hypothesis (that)’. The Americanness of the informal use has been marked… …   Modern English usage

  • guess´er — guess «gehs», verb, noun. –v.t. 1. to form an opinion of without really knowing; conjecture; estimate: »to guess the height of a tree, guess what will happen next. 2. to get right by guessing: »Can you guess the answer to that riddle? 3. to think …   Useful english dictionary

  • guess — guess·able; guess·er; guess·ing·ly; guess; guess·ti·mate; …   English syllables

  • Guess — Guess, v. i. To make a guess or random judgment; to conjecture; with at, about, etc. [1913 Webster] This is the place, as well as I may guess. Milton. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 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. [1913 Webster] A poet must confess His art s like physic but a happy… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • guess — [ges] vt., vi. [ME gessen, to judge, estimate, prob. < MDu, akin to Dan gisse, Swed gissa, ON geta: for IE base see GET] 1. to form a judgment or estimate of (something) without actual knowledge or enough facts for certainty; conjecture;… …   English World dictionary

  • guess — vb *conjecture, surmise Analogous words: speculate, *think, reason: imagine, fancy (see THINK): gather, *infer, deduce: estimate, reckon (see CALCULATE) guess n conjecture, surmise (see under …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • guess — [n] belief, speculation assumption, ballpark figure*, conclusion, conjecture, deduction, divination, estimate, fancy, feeling, guesstimate*, guesswork, hunch*, hypothesis, induction, inference, judgment, notion, opinion, postulate, postulation,… …   New thesaurus

  • guess — ► VERB 1) estimate or suppose (something) without sufficient information to be sure of being correct. 2) correctly estimate or conjecture. 3) (I guess) informal, chiefly N. Amer. I suppose. ► NOUN ▪ an estimate or conjecture. DERIVATIVES …   English terms dictionary

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