Word.ws English Dictionary

second-guess

UK/ˈsɛk.əndˌɡɛs/US/ˈsɛk.(ə)ndˌɡɛs/

second-guess verb: to vet or evaluate; to criticize or correct, often by hindsight, by presuming to have a better idea, method, etc.

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To vet or evaluate; to criticize or correct, often by hindsight, by presuming to have a better idea, method, etc.
    • Please don't try to second-guess the procedure that we have already refined and adopted.
    • Once she began listening to her instincts and didn't second-guess herself the entire time, her artwork improved noticeably.
  2. (intransitive, transitive) To anticipate or predict someone's actions or thoughts by guesswork.
    • In this day and age, it's so easy to stress / 'Cause people are strange and you can never second-guess2000, Paul Godfrey, Ross Godfrey, Skye Edwards, “Rome Wasn't Built In a Day”, in Fragments of Freedom, performed by Morcheeba
    • The Securities and Exchange Commission says Goldman misled two clients by failing to give adequate disclosure.[…] It is impossible to second-guess the case's outcome. But Goldman is already viewed by many as guilty.2010 April 24, “Greedy Until Proven Guilty”, in The Economist, volume 395, number 8679, page 13

Examples of second-guess in a sentence

  • Public administration would be hamstrung if courts were free to second-guess reasonable administrative decisions.1959, U.S. Court of Appeals proceedings:
  • As a practical matter, a fertilizer company could not afford to second-guess the Federal Trade Commission or a jury in a triple damage case on so obscure a point.1957, United States Senate proceedings:
  • If you suspect you've stepped over the line, ask a few other copy editors to second-guess your headline.2003, Editing Today:

Synonyms of second-guess

Forms of second-guess

third-person singular presentsecond-guesses
present participlesecond-guessing
past participlesecond-guessed
pastsecond-guessed
alternative formsecond guess

Origin of second-guess

A back-formation from second guesser, originally from baseball. First use appears c. 1941.

Words that rhyme with second-guess

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about second-guess

What does second-guess mean?
Second-guess means to vet or evaluate; to criticize or correct, often by hindsight, by presuming to have a better idea, method, etc.
How do you use second-guess in a sentence?
Public administration would be hamstrung if courts were free to second-guess reasonable administrative decisions.
What part of speech is second-guess?
Second-guess is a verb.
How do you pronounce second-guess?
Second-guess is pronounced /ˈsɛk.əndˌɡɛs/ (UK).
What is the past tense of second-guess?
The past tense of second-guess is second-guessed.

Words near second-guess in the dictionary

  1. second-generation
  2. second-growth forest
  3. second-growth forests
  4. second-guarder
  5. second-guarders
  6. second-guess
  7. second-guessed
  8. second-guesser
  9. second-guessers
  10. second-guesses
  11. second-guessing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: second-guess (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-second-guess.ogg.

Cite this entry: “second-guess.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/second-guess. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.