guess
/ɡɛs/
guess verb: to reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
Verb
guess (third-person singular simple present guesses, present participle guessing, simple past and past participle guessed)
- To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
- We can only guess at what was going through her mind.
- She guessed that the delivery driver must have got stuck in traffic.
- To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
- He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.
- You guessed the right answer!
- To suppose, to imagine (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
- That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.
- Not all together; better far, I guess, / That we do make our entrance several ways.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- To think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".
- "I guess you were right." "What did he say?" "He guesses you were right."
- "I guess I'll go to bed."
- To hit upon or reproduce by memory.
- Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
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.
- "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."1907, L. Frank Baum, Ozma of Oz
- Synonyms:
- estimate, hypothesis, prediction
guess meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
guess in Hindi
- to reach an unconfirmed conclusion
- अनुमान anumān, अटकल aṭkal
- to solve by a correct conjecture
- अनुमान anumān
- to suppose, to imagine
- अनुमान anumān
- prediction about the outcome of something
- अनुमान anumān, अटकल aṭkal
guess in Tamil
- ஊகம், யூகம், அனுமானம், உத்தேசம்
guess in Marathi
- guess, supposition, rough computation or estimate
- अटकळ aṭkaḷ
guess in Urdu
- guess
- اٹکل aṭkal
More languagesFewer languages
- guess in Bengali
- আন্দাজ andaj, আটকাল aṭkal, আঁচ ãc, ধারণা dharona
- guess in Telugu
- అంచనా añcanā, ఉజ్జ ujja, ఉజ్జాయింపు ujjāyimpu, అడసట్టా aḍasaṭṭā
- guess in Malayalam
- ഊഹിക്കുക ūhikkuka, ഊഹം ūhaṁ
- guess in Kannada
- ಅಂದಾಜು, ಊಹೆ, ಕಲ್ಪನೆ, ಊಹಿಸು
- guess in Punjabi
- ਕਿਆਸ kiāsa, ਅਟਕਲ aṭkal, ਅੰਦਾਜ andāj
- guess in Gujarati
- અંદાજ andāj, અટકળ aṭkaḷ
- guess in Odia
- ଅଟକଳ aṭakaḷa
- guess in Sanskrit
- तर्कयति tarkayati, ऊहति ūhati
- guess in Assamese
- আঁটকাল ãtokal
- guess in Nepali
- अड्कल aḍkal
- guess in Tagalog
- manghula, nahulaan, siguro
- guess in Arabic
- خَمَّنَ ḵammana, حزر ḥazara
- guess in Malay
- agak, anggar
- guess in Indonesian
- kira, mengira, pikir, berpikir
- guess in Persian
- حدسیدن, گمانیدن, حدس hads
- guess in Thai
- เดา dao
- guess in Vietnamese
- đoán, phỏng đoán, đoán ra, nghĩ ra
Examples of guess in a sentence
- You will never guess what happened next.
- But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]:
- We are twelve billion light years from the edge / That's a guess2005, Mike Batt, “Nine Million Bicycles”, performed by Katie Melua:
Synonyms of guess
- estimate
- hypothesis
- prediction
- assume
- conjecture
- hypothesize
- speculate
- suppose
- surmise
- take a stab
Forms of guess
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | guesses |
| present participle | guessing |
| past participle | guessed |
| past | guessed |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | guessest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | guessedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | guesseth |
| Noun | |
| plural | guesses |
Origin of guess
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.
Words formed from guess
- anotherguess
- anybody's guess
- at a guess
- by guess or by God
- by guess or by golly
- by guess or by gosh
- educated guess
- guess cake
- guessless
- guess warp
- guess-work
- hazard a guess
- intelligent guess
- miss one's guess
- otherguess
- second guess
- stab a guess
- take a guess
- uneducated guess
- wild guess
- your guess is as good as mine
- anyone's guess
- guesstimate
- guesswork
- foreguess
- guessability
- guessable
- guesser
- guessing game
- guessive
- guess the verb
- guesstimation
- guess what
- guestimate
- keep someone guessing
- misguess
- no prize for guessing
- no prizes for guessing
- outguess
- out-guess
- second-guess
- underguess
- unguessability
- you'll never guess
Phrases with guess
Words that rhyme with guess
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- SMS
- success
- compress
- largesse
- ness
- profess
- confess
- distress
- regress
- depress
- excess
- prepossess
- undress
- CBS
- ingress
- oppress
- redress
- transgress
- assess
- cess
- duress
- fess
- fluoresce
- Hesse
- less
- mayoress
- obsess
- tress
- unless
- yes
- accresce
- acquiesce
- aggress
- BESS
- caress
- clothes press
- congress
- defervesce
- digress
- ess
- foulness
- Hess
- intumesce
- jess
- lazy S
- liquesce
- repress
- second-guess
Questions about guess
- What does guess mean?
- Guess means to reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.
- What is guess in Hindi?
- Guess in Hindi is अनुमान (anumān), अटकल (aṭkal). See Guess meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use guess in a sentence?
- You will never guess what happened next.
- What part of speech is guess?
- Guess can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce guess?
- Guess is pronounced /ɡɛs/.
- What is the past tense of guess?
- The past tense of guess is guessed.
Words near guess in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: guess (page history and authors); guess (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अटकळ (Marathi) (page history and authors); اٹکل (Urdu) (page history and authors); আঁচ (Bengali) (page history and authors); అంచనా (Telugu) (page history and authors); guess (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਅਟਕਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); અંદાજ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଅଟକଳ (Odia) (page history and authors); ऊहति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); আঁটকাল (Assamese) (page history and authors); अड्कल (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-guess.ogg.
Cite this entry: “guess.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guess. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.