different between guesswork vs surmise

English

Alternative forms

• guess-work

Etymology

From guess +? work. Compare Dutch giswerk (“guesswork”).

Noun

guesswork (countable and uncountable, plural guessworks)

1. An estimate, judgment or opinion made by guessing, from limited information.

Related terms

• guesstimate

Translations

See also

• dead reckoning

English

Etymology

From Old French surmis, past participle of surmetre, surmettre (“to accuse”), from sur- (“upon”) + metre (“to put”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /s???ma?z/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /s??ma?z/
• Hyphenation: sur?mise

Noun

surmise (countable and uncountable, plural surmises)

1. Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess.
2. Reflection; thought; posit.

Translations

Verb

surmise (third-person singular simple present surmises, present participle surmising, simple past and past participle surmised)

1. To imagine or suspect; to conjecture; to posit with contestable premises.

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• misuser

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sy?.miz/
• Homophones: surmisent, surmises

Verb

surmise

1. first-person singular present indicative of surmiser
2. third-person singular present indicative of surmiser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of surmiser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of surmiser
5. second-person singular imperative of surmiser

Anagrams

• mûrisse