surmise

[ verb ser-mahyz; noun ser-mahyz, sur-mahyz ]

verb (used with object)

, sur·mised, sur·mis·ing.

1. to think or infer without certain or strong evidence; conjecture; guess.

   Synonyms: suspect, suppose, imagine

verb (used without object)

, sur·mised, sur·mis·ing.

1. to conjecture or guess.

noun

1. a matter of conjecture.
2. an idea or thought of something as being possible or likely.
3. a conjecture or opinion.

surmise

verb

1. when tr, may take a clause as object to infer (something) from incomplete or uncertain evidence

noun

1. an idea inferred from inconclusive evidence

Derived Forms

• surˈmisable, adjective
• surˈmiser, noun

Other Words From

• sur·misa·ble adjective
• sur·mised·ly [ser-, mahyzd, -lee, -, mahy, -zid-], adverb
• sur·miser noun
• unsur·mised adjective
• unsur·mising adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of surmise¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English surmisen, from Anglo-French surmis(e), Middle French “accused,” past participle of surmettre “to accuse,” from Latin supermittere “to throw upon,” from super super- + mittere “to let go, send”

Word History and Origins

Origin of surmise¹

C15: from Old French, from surmettre to accuse, from Latin supermittere to throw over, from super- + mittere to send

Synonym Study

See guess.

Example Sentences

Climate change was not on the discussion list here, as you might surmise.

From Salon

His solution, we surmise, was not to take a principled stand of dissent when the far-right bloc went too far, too fast, but to join them and lead them to new heights of extremism.

From Slate

"I would speculate, but you can see some of the fashion prints were coloured in a fairly rough hand and it wouldn't be a huge leap to surmise these prints could have been a means of instructing Mary on drawing and on fashion," she said.

From BBC

In this eerie, rather primitive context, its easy to surmise that the murderess is a witch.

From New York Times

Because the waves of bulging blood vessels move in a variety of directions, the authors surmise that the pulses of dilation and contraction of the blood vessels are more likely to be involved in mixing the fluid around them rather than actively moving it in a given direction.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• deduce
• hypothesize
• infer
• opine
• presume
• pretend
• speculate
• theorize