different between ascertain vs guess

English

Etymology

From Middle English acerteynen, from Old French acertener, from a- (“to, towards”) + certener (“make sure of”), from the adjective certain, from Latin certus (“certain, fixed”). Compare to Spanish acertar.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?æs??te?n/
• (US) enPR: ?s'-?r-t?n?, IPA^(key): /?æs??te?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n
• Hyphenation: as?cer?tain

Verb

ascertain (third-person singular simple present ascertains, present participle ascertaining, simple past and past participle ascertained)

1. To find out definitely; to discover or establish.

   Synonyms: determine, discover, establish, find out, learn, work out
2. (obsolete) To make (someone) certain or confident about something; to inform.
3. (archaic) To establish, to prove.
4. (archaic) To ensure or effect.

Derived terms

• ascertainable
• ascertainedly
• ascertainment

Translations

Anagrams

• Cartesian, arsacetin, cartesian, craniates, intracase, sectarian

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: g?s, IPA^(key): /??s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Etymology 1

From Middle English gessen, probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse, gitse, getsa (“to guess”), from Old Norse *getsa, *gitsa, from Proto-Germanic *gitis?n? (“to guess”), from Proto-Germanic *getan? (“to get”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?ed- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Danish gisse (“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”). Related also to Icelandic giska ("to guess"; from Proto-Germanic *gitisk?n?). Compare also Russian ??????? (gadát?, “to conjecture, guess, divine”), Albanian gjëzë (“riddle”) from gjej (“find, recover, obtain”). More at get.

Verb

guess (third-person singular simple present guesses, present participle guessing, simple past and past participle guessed)

1. To reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.
2. To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.

3. (chiefly US) to suppose (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
   • 1714, Alexander Pope, Imitations of Horace

     But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.
4. (colloquial) To think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".

5. (obsolete) To hit upon or reproduce by memory.

Synonyms

• hypothesize
• take a stab
• speculate
• assume

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English gesse. Cognate with Dutch gis (“a guess”).

Noun

guess (plural guesses)

1. A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.

   Synonyms: estimate, hypothesis, prediction

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• guess in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• guess in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Guses