Guess
Pronunciation
- enPR: gĕs, IPA: /ɡɛs/
- Rhymes: -ɛs
Origin 1
From Middle English gessen, probably of Scandinavian origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa ("to guess"), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitisÅnÄ… ("to guess"), from Proto-Germanic *getanÄ… ("to get"), from Proto-Indo-European *gÊ°ed- ("to take, seize"). Cognate with Danish gisse ("to guess"), Swedish gissa ("to guess"), Dutch gissen ("to guess"), Low German gissen ("to guess"). Related also to Icelandic giska (). Compare also Russian гадать (gadatʹ, "to conjecture, guess, divine"), Albanian gjëzë ("riddle") from gjej ("find, recover, obtain"). More at get.
Full definition of guess
Verb
- To reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.
- To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.
- (chiefly US) to suppose (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.
- ShakespeareNot all together; better far, I guess,
That we do make our entrance several ways. - Alexander PopeBut in known images of life I guess
The labour greater. - 1914–1915, Arthur Conan Doyle, S:The Valley of Fear/Chapter I, "Are you a member of the union?"
"Sure."
"Then you'll get your job, I guess. Have you any friends?"
- (obsolete) To hit upon or reproduce by memory.
- ShakespeareTell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Origin 2
From Middle English gesse. Cognate with Dutch gis ("a guess").
Noun
guess
(plural guesses)- A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.If you don't know the answer, take a guess.
- 1907, L. Frank Baum, S:Ozma of Oz/Chapter 12, "But I shall have eleven guesses," answered Ozma. "Surely I ought to guess one object in eleven correctly; and, if I do, I shall rescue one of the royal family and be safe myself. Then the rest of you may attempt it, and soon we shall free all those who are enslaved."