DictionaryAI

estimate

ES-ti-muht/ˈɛs.tɪ.mət/
As a verbES-ti-mayt

Verbestimates, estimating, estimated

Noun pluralestimates

6 meanings of estimate

Practice

  1. 1
    reckon (amount)verbtransitive
    To calculate something roughly, often working from incomplete or imperfect data.

    Forecasters estimate rainfall from limited weather station data.

    Engineers estimated the bridge's load capacity using rough field measurements.

    UsageCommon patterns: estimate that it will take an hour; the cost is estimated at $500; it is estimated to be larger.

    Similarcalculate, gauge, approximate, reckon, guess

  2. 2
    rough figurenouncountable
    An approximate judgment or calculation of how much something is worth, how large it is, or what it will cost.

    Like sizing up a crowd at a glance rather than counting every head.

    By one police estimate, the crowd at the parade topped fifty thousand.

    Early estimates of the storm damage proved far too low.

    UsageOften a rough estimate, and an estimate of something: estimates of the damage. By one estimate introduces a figure.

    Similarestimation, appraisal

    Note

    An estimate is a figure worked out roughly when exact counting or measuring is impractical, as with the size of a crowd or the early cost of storm damage. Early estimates are often revised as better information comes in.

  3. 3
    nouncountable
    A document or spoken statement setting out how much a job is likely to cost.

    The garage emailed an estimate for the brake repair before scheduling it.

    Several estimates for the roof work arrived within the week.

    UsageUsually an estimate for a job: an estimate for the brake repair. People get or ask for estimates before choosing.

    Note

    In business and construction, the rough calculation is presented as a document or spoken statement of a job's likely cost. Customers can request and compare several estimates before choosing who will do the work.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To judge the value or worth of someone or something, forming an opinion from imperfect information.

    Because so many of his letters were lost, historians still estimate the old general's importance in very different ways.

    Early reviewers badly estimated the album's importance, and only years later did critics see how much it had changed the music around it.

    UsageUsually with the thing judged as object: estimate the importance, value or worth of something, rather than a number.

    Similarjudge, assess, evaluate, gauge, appraise

    Note

    Here the object is weighed in the mind rather than measured. John Locke, in 1695, has men estimate commodities by the weight of silver. John Campbell Shairp, in 1870, finds it hard to estimate the age one is living in.

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    adjectiveobsolete
    Arrived at by estimation; calculated approximately rather than measured exactly.
    Note

    This form is a relic of an older English habit. Verbs taken from Latin -ātus participles once used the bare form as their own past participle, and estimate served that way, much as generate and communicate did. As an adjective it is now obsolete and rare. Modern writing uses estimated, and estimate meaning 'estimated' before a noun will read as a mistake unless the context is deliberately historical.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • English historically used forms derived from Latin -ātus participles as past participles without adding -ed. en.wiktionary.org
    • Estimate historically served as its own past participle, with generate and communicate as comparable forms. en.wiktionary.org
    • Estimate can legitimately precede a noun as a noun modifier, as in 'estimate accuracy'. The restriction should apply specifically to estimate meaning 'estimated'. gao.gov
  2. 6
    noun
    An upper limit placed on the size of some positive quantity.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of estimate apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 2–3

From Middle English estimat, borrowed from Latin aestimātus ('valuing, estimate'), from the verb aestimō plus a suffix that forms action nouns.

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

Meanings 1, 4

Borrowed from Latin aestimātus, the perfect passive participle of aestimō ('to estimate'), older form aestumō ('to value, rate, esteem'); this perhaps comes from Old Latin *ais-temos ('one who cuts copper'), meaning one who minted money in the Roman Republic. It is a doublet of esteem and related to aim.

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

  • Estimate was borrowed from Latin aestimātus, the perfect passive participle of aestimō, meaning 'to estimate'. en.wiktionary.org
  • Aestumō is the older form, meaning 'to value, rate, esteem'. en.wiktionary.org
  • A proposed, uncertain origin is Old Latin *ais-temos, interpreted as a copper cutter or money minter in the Roman Republic. en.wiktionary.org
  • Estimate and esteem are doublets. en.wiktionary.org
  • Estimate is etymologically related to aim. en.wiktionary.org
Meaning 5

Latin aestimātus ('estimated') is the source; the word first served as the past participle of estimate, the same pattern seen in generate and communicate.