estimate

American  

[es-tuh-meyt, es-tuh-mit, -meyt] / ˈɛs təˌmeɪt, ˈɛs tə mɪt, -ˌmeɪt /

verb (used with object)

estimated, estimating

1. to form an approximate judgment or opinion regarding the worth, amount, size, weight, etc., of; calculate approximately.

   to estimate the cost of a college education.

   Synonyms:

   appraise, evaluate, value, assess, gauge, reckon, count, compute

2. to form an opinion of; judge.

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verb (used without object)

estimated, estimating

1. to make an estimate.

noun

1. an approximate judgment or calculation, as of the value, amount, time, size, or weight of something.

   Synonyms:

   appraisal, calculation, valuation

2. a judgment or opinion, as of the qualities of a person or thing.

3. a statement of the approximate charge for work to be done, submitted by a person or business firm ready to undertake the work.

estimate British  

verb

1. to form an approximate idea of (distance, size, cost, etc); calculate roughly; gauge

2. (tr; may take a clause as object) to form an opinion about; judge

   to estimate one's chances

3. to submit (an approximate price) for (a job) to a prospective client

4. (tr) statistics to assign a value (a point estimate ) or range of values (an interval estimate ) to a parameter of a population on the basis of sampling statistics See estimator

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noun

1. an approximate calculation

2. a statement indicating the likely charge for or cost of certain work

3. a judgment; appraisal; opinion

Other Word Forms

• estimatingly adverb
• estimative adjective
• estimator noun
• preestimate verb (used with object)
• reestimate verb (used with object)
• self-estimate noun
• unestimated adjective
• well-estimated adjective

Etymology

Origin of estimate

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin aestimātus “valued,” past participle of aestimāre “to value, fix the value of”

Explanation

A rough calculation or appraisal is an estimate. When you hit another baseball through the kitchen window, your parents will get an estimate of the repair costs. And you should estimate being grounded for approximately 3 weeks. An estimate is kind of like a very educated guess. Making an estimate takes good evaluation skills, and usually estimates are pretty close to the actual outcome. If the garage bill is way higher than the estimate they gave you, for example, you have a right to be angry. But if you forgot to factor in rush hour traffic when you estimated the drive from Boston to New York, that's your own fault.

Example Sentences

The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.59 a share for its fiscal third quarter, up from $1.54 a year ago and ahead of analysts’ estimate for $1.56, according to FactSet.

From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026

The forward price/earnings ratio is the share price divided by the consensus 12-month earnings-per-share estimate.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026

Flash estimate GDP data for the first quarter will be released from France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the eurozone on Thursday.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

Using global measurements and computer models, the researchers estimate emissions from both land and ocean sources.

From Science Daily • Apr. 24, 2026

The virtue of such a coarse logarithmic safety scale is that it provides us, and particularly the media, with an order-of-magnitude estimate of the risks associated with various activities, illnesses, and procedures.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Related Words

• appraisal
• assessment
• conclusion
• estimation
• evaluation
• guess
• measure
• measurement
• opinion
• projection
• rating
• survey
• valuation