DictionaryAI

calculate

verb
KAL-kyoo-layt/ˈkælkjʊleɪt/UKKAL-kyuu-layt/ˈkælkjʊleɪt/

Formscalculates, calculating, calculated

6 meanings of calculate

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To determine the value of something or the solution to a problem through a mathematical process.

    Astronomers calculate the orbit of each comet from a handful of observations.

    The software calculates the tax owed based on annual income.

    Similarcompute, determine, reckon

    Note

    The core arithmetic sense has a literal origin. Latin calculō meant reckoning with pebbles; it comes from calculus, 'a little pebble', which comes from calx, 'limestone'. Here the verb is transitive and takes the thing worked out as its object: calculate the square root, the orbit, the tax. A phrase of precision often follows, such as to ten decimal places.

  2. 2
    verbintransitive
    To determine values or solutions by means of a mathematical process.

    Accountants calculate faster when the figures are already sorted.

    She paused to calculate before committing to her final bid.

    Similarcompute, reckon, count

    Note

    Here the object drops away and the verb names the activity itself. You simply sit and calculate. It is the intransitive partner of the sense with an object, and reckon is its closest plain-English equivalent. Adverbs of manner sit naturally right after it: calculate quickly, calculate carefully, calculate in your head.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To adapt or arrange something through forethought so that it serves a particular purpose.

    The architect calculated the design to make the most of natural light.

    Politicians calculate their promises to appeal to undecided voters.

    Similartailor, design, gear, craft, engineer

    Note

    This sense is about forethought rather than arithmetic: fitting means to an end. John Tillotson's 1671 sermon says religion is 'calculated for our benefit'. The passive with for or to is the natural home of this sense: a scheme calculated to please, laws calculated for a free people. Read it as 'designed', and keep it apart from the arithmetic sense, where nothing is being shaped.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To predict the time, circumstances, or consequences of something by mathematical or astrological computation.

    Astronomers calculate the timing of eclipses years in advance.

    The court astrologer calculated the prince's fortune from the position of the stars.

    Similarpredict, forecast, compute, reckon

    Note

    Astrology's version of reckoning means working out a person's fortune from the heavens at their birth. Shakespeare's Henry the Sixth, Part 2 has 'A cunning man did calculate my birth', and the old phrase to calculate one's nativity means to cast a horoscope. Modern English keeps only the forecasting side, as in calculating when an eclipse will fall.

  5. 5
    verbtransitive
    To work through sequences of potential moves and responses mentally, without physically moving the pieces.

    Grandmasters calculate deep variations even under severe time pressure.

    He calculated the sacrifice three moves before he played it.

    Similaranalyze, compute

    Note

    Chess players use the word for thinking ahead in concrete lines: if I play this, they answer that, then I reply. To calculate is to check specific moves rather than judge a position by feel. It works both alone and with an object, and the object is the line being tested: calculate a sacrifice, calculate a variation, calculate deeply.

  6. 6
    verbdialectalUSintransitive
    To plan, expect, or suppose that something is the case.

    I calculate to head west come spring.

    She calculated the rain would hold off till evening.

    Similarreckon, figure, expect, suppose, plan

    Note

    In this regional American use, working something out shades into planning or supposing, much as reckon and figure do. Joseph C. Lincoln's Mr. Pratt's Patients (1913) renders the speech as cal'lated, a spelling that drops a syllable the way speakers did. It belongs to dialect and to fiction imitating it. In ordinary writing, use expect or suppose, because this can be misread as the arithmetic sense.

Practice

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Origin

This word was borrowed from Latin calculātus, the past participle of calculō ("to reckon, compute"), which originally referred to reckoning by means of pebbles. It comes from calculus ("a pebble"), itself from calx ("limestone") plus the diminutive suffix -ulus.