Adjacent Words

Surmise definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SURMISE, v.t. surmi'ze. To suspect; to imagine without certain knowledge; to entertain thoughts that something does or will exist, but upon slight evidence.
It wafted nearer yet, and then she knew
That what before she but surmis'd, was true.
This change was not wrought by altering the form or position of the earth, as was surmised by a very learned man, but by dissolving it.
SURMI'SE, n. Suspicion; the thought or imagination that something may be, of which however there is no certain or strong evidence; as the surmises of jealousy or of envy.
We double honor gain
From his surmise prov'd false.
No man ought to be charged with principles he disowns,unless his practices contradict his professions; not upon small surmises.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence [syn: guess, conjecture, supposition, surmise, surmisal, speculation, hypothesis] v
1: infer from incomplete evidence
2: imagine to be the case or true or probable; "I suspect he is a fugitive"; "I surmised that the butler did it" [syn: suspect, surmise]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, allegation, charge, from Anglo-French, from feminine of surmis, past participle of surmettre to place on, suppose, accuse, from Medieval Latin supermittere, from Late Latin, to place on, from Latin super- + mittere to let go, send Date: 1569 a thought or idea based on scanty evidence ; conjecture II. transitive verb (surmised; surmising) Etymology: Middle English, to allege, from surmise, noun Date: 1700 to form a notion of from scanty evidence ; imagine, infer

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. a conjecture or suspicion about the existence or truth of something. --v. 1 tr. (often foll. by that + clause) infer doubtfully; make a surmise about. 2 tr. suspect the existence of. 3 intr. make a guess. Etymology: ME f. AF & OF fem. past part. of surmettre accuse f. LL supermittere supermiss- (as SUPER-, mittere send)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Surmise Sur*mise", n. [OF. surmise accusation, fr. surmettre, p. p. surmis, to impose, accuse; sur (see Sur-) + mettre to put, set, L. mittere to send. See Mission.] 1. A thought, imagination, or conjecture, which is based upon feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess; as, the surmisses of jealousy or of envy. [We] double honor gain From his surmise proved false. --Milton. No man ought to be charged with principles he actually disowns, unless his practicies contradict his profession; not upon small surmises. --Swift. 2. Reflection; thought. [Obs.] --Shak. Syn: Conjecture; supposition; suspicion; doubt.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Surmise Sur*mise", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Surmised; p. pr. & vb. n. Surmising.] To imagine without certain knowledge; to infer on slight grounds; to suppose, conjecture, or suspect; to guess. It wafted nearer yet, and then she knew That what before she but surmised, was true. --Dryden. This change was not wrought by altering the form or position of the earth, as was surmised by a very learned man, but by dissolving it. --Woodward.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(surmises, surmising, surmised) 1. If you surmise that something is true, you guess it from the available evidence, although you do not know for certain. (FORMAL) There's so little to go on, we can only surmise what happened... He surmised that he had discovered one of the illegal streets. VERB: V wh, V that, also V, V n 2. If you say that a particular conclusion is surmise, you mean that it is a guess based on the available evidence and you do not know for certain that it is true. (FORMAL) It is mere surmise that Bosch had Brant's poem in mind when doing this painting... His surmise proved correct. = conjecture N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Imagine, suspect, conjecture, suppose, guess, divine, fancy, believe, think, presume. II. n. Conjecture, suspicion, supposition, guess, doubt, imperfect notion.

Moby Thesaurus

account as, assume, assumption, axiom, be afraid, believe, blind guess, bold conjecture, conceive, conclude, conclusion, conjecture, consider, daresay, deduce, deem, divine, dream, esteem, estimate, expect, fancy, feel, feeling, gather, grant, guess, guesswork, have a hunch, have an idea, have an impression, have an inkling, have the idea, hold, hold as, hunch, hypothesis, hypothesize, imagine, infer, inference, judge, let, let be, look upon as, maintain, notion, opine, perhaps, postulate, postulation, postulatum, prefigure, premise, presume, presumption, presupposal, presuppose, presupposition, presurmise, pretend, proposition, provisionally accept, reckon, regard, repute, risk assuming, rough guess, say, sense, set down as, set of postulates, shot, speculate, speculation, stab, supposal, suppose, supposing, supposition, suspect, suspicion, take, take for, take for granted, take it, take to be, theorize, theory, thesis, think, trow, understand, understanding, unverified supposition, venture a guess, view as, ween, wild guess, working hypothesis