conjecture

English

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kənˈd͡ʒɛk.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kənˈd͡ʒɛk.t͡ʃɚ/

  • Audio (US)

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /kənˈd͡ʒek.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (AU)

    (file)

Noun

conjecture (countable and uncountable, plural conjectures)

1. (formal) A statement or an idea which is unproven, but is thought to be true; a guess.

   I explained it, but it is pure conjecture whether he understood, or not.

2. (formal) A supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis.

   The physicist used his conjecture about subatomic particles to design an experiment.

3. (mathematics, linguistics) A statement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven.
4. (obsolete) Interpretation of signs and omens.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:supposition

Derived terms

Related terms

• conject
• conjectural

Translations

Verb

conjecture (third-person singular simple present conjectures, present participle conjecturing, simple past and past participle conjectured)

1. (formal, intransitive) To guess; to venture an unproven idea.

   I do not know if it is true; I am simply conjecturing here.

2. (transitive) To infer on slight evidence; to guess at.
   • February 22, 1685, Robert South, All Contingences under the Direction of God's Providence (sermon preached at Westminster Abbey)
   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. , volume I, London: Henry Colburn, , published 1842, →OCLC, page 243:

     "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.

Translations

Further reading

• “conjecture”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “conjecture”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “conjecture”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ʒɛk.tyʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin coniectūra.

Noun

conjecture f (plural conjectures)

1. conjecture

   Near-synonyms: hypothèse, supputation

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with conjoncture.

Derived terms

• conjecturer

Further reading

• “conjecture”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

conjecture

1. inflection of conjecturer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Latin

Participle

conjectūre

1. vocative masculine singular of conjectūrus

Portuguese

Verb

conjecture

1. inflection of conjecturar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative