conjecture
/kənˈd͡ʒekt͡ʃə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.35 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A statement or an idea which is unproven, but is thought to be true; a guess.
Countable; Formal; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "I explained it, but it is pure conjecture whether he understood, or not."
- "The physicist used his conjecture about subatomic particles to design an experiment."
- "I do not know if it is true; I am simply conjecturing here."
- "What could have been done by such a machine downhill can only be conjectured, for the maximum speed was restricted rigidly to 80 m.p.h."
- "February 22, 1685, Robert South, All Contingences under the Direction of God's Providence (sermon preached at Westminster Abbey)"
- ""Most likely he who is the shorter of the two;—no! he goes in the first, and is, of course, the eldest; but we have no time for conjecturing now." Human reason can then, at the best, but conjecture what will be."
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)).
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kənˈd͡ʒekt͡ʃə/
- British English: /kənˈd͡ʒɛkt͡ʃə/