English Explanatory Dictionary

surmise

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess.
  2. Reflection; thought; posit.
verb
  1. To imagine or suspect; to conjecture; to posit with contestable premises.

Pronunciation

/sɜːˈmaɪz/ /sɚˈmaɪz/ en-au-surmise.ogg

Word forms

surmise surmises surmising surmised

Etymology

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

Synonyms

assumption conjecture educated guess foreguess given guess guesstimate hunch hypothesis inference overhope posit possibility postulation presumption reckoning speculation supposition surmise suspicion theory working hypothesis arread assume fancy conject daresay dope go out on a limb hypothesize hypotheticate imagine infer postulate presume reckon speculate suppose suspect take a stab at take for granted take something as read theorize ween

Derived words

presurmise surmisable surmisedly surmiser surmission unsurmised unsurmising
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