Conjecture
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A statement or an idea which is unproven, but is thought to be true; a guess. countable, formal, uncountable
"I explained it, but it is pure conjecture whether he understood, or not."
- 2 reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence wordnet
- 3 A supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis. countable, formal, uncountable
"The physicist used his conjecture about subatomic particles to design an experiment."
- 4 a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence) wordnet
- 5 A statement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven. countable, uncountable
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence wordnet
- 7 Interpretation of signs and omens. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 1 To guess; to venture an unproven idea. formal, intransitive
"I do not know if it is true; I am simply conjecturing here."
- 2 to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds wordnet
- 3 To infer on slight evidence; to guess at. transitive
"February 22, 1685, Robert South, All Contingences under the Direction of God's Providence (sermon preached at Westminster Abbey)"
Example
More examples"In any case, you are wrong in your conjecture."
Etymology
From Old French, from Latin coniectūra (“a guess”), from coniectus, perfect passive participle of cōniciō (“throw or cast together; guess”), from con- (“together”) + iaciō (“throw, hurl”); see jet. Compare adjective, eject, inject, project, reject, subject, object, trajectory, deject, abject, surjection, bijection, interject. Compare typologically Russian прики́дывать (prikídyvatʹ) (akin to кида́ть (kidátʹ)).
Related phrases
More for "conjecture"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.