Link Centre Dictionary

guess

UK/ɡɛs/ US/ˈɡɛs/ very common
verb (4) noun (2)

verb

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”
  • “;”
Synonyms
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”
Synonyms
3.

judge tentatively or form an estimate of (quantities or time)

  • “I estimate this chicken to weigh three pounds”
Synonyms
4.

guess correctly; solve by guessing

  • “He guessed the right number of beans in the jar and won the prize”
Synonyms

noun

1.
2.

Origin

From Middle English gessen (verb) and Middle English gesse (noun), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa (“to guess”), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitisōną (“to guess”), from Proto-Germanic *getaną (“to get”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Danish gisne (“to guess”), Norwegian gissa, gjette (“to guess”), Swedish gissa (“to guess”), Saterland Frisian gisje (“to guess”), Dutch gissen (“to guess”), Low German gissen (“to guess”), Dutch gis (“a guess”). Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitiskōną). Compare also Russian гада́ть (gadátʹ, “to conjecture, guess, divine”), Albanian gjëzë (“riddle”) from gjej (“find, recover, obtain”). More at get.

Phrases

  • anyone's guess
  • guess the verb
  • guess what
  • guessing game
  • keep someone guessing
  • no prize for guessing
  • no prizes for guessing
  • you'll never guess

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.