DictionaryAI

guess

GES/ɡɛs/

Verbguesses, guessing, guessed

Noun pluralguesses

5 meanings of guess

Practice

  1. 1
    I thinkverbinformaltransitive
    To suppose or think something, often using 'I guess' to express an opinion, decision, or agreement, sometimes with uncertainty or hesitation.

    I guess the meeting moved to next week.

    It's getting late, so I guess we should head home now.

    UsageI guess can open, interrupt or end a sentence (you're right, I guess). Short answers: I guess so, I guess not.

    Note

    Heard today mainly in American English, the hedging "I guess" has a long English pedigree. Shakespeare writes "better far, I guess" in Henry VI, Part 1, and Pope uses it in his Imitations of Horace. It offers a thought without fully vouching for it.

  2. 2
    conclude without factsverbtransitive or intransitive
    To reach an unconfirmed conclusion without enough information to be certain; to speculate.

    We can only guess at what caused the sudden outage.

    Forecasters guessed at next week's weather, since the models disagreed.

    UsageGuess at something (guess at her motives), or guess that + a clause: she guessed that the driver was stuck.

    Similarspeculate, conjecture

  3. 3
    nouncountable
    An answer, estimate or prediction given without knowing for sure that it is right.

    Her guess about the final score turned out to be wrong.

    Without more information, any guess would be little better than chance.

    UsageUsually take a guess or make a guess; to give one, my guess is that + a clause.

    Similarestimate, prediction, hypothesis

    Note

    The noun comes from Middle English gesse, alongside the verb gessen. It is countable, so guesses can be numbered, like Ozma's eleven in L. Frank Baum's Ozma of Oz (1907). An estimate suggests some reckoning behind the figure; a guess admits there may be none.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To arrive at the correct answer through conjecture; to conjecture rightly.

    He guessed the riddle before anyone else could.

    Nobody could guess the secret word.

    UsageCommon in set phrases: Guess what! and you'll never guess who I met.

    Similarsolve

    Note

    Success is built into the meaning here. Guess at a riddle and you are still trying; guess the riddle and you have solved it. The move from "at" to a direct object often signals this use, but the speculative sense can take an object too, as when you guess someone's age and miss. It also powers a familiar storyteller's tease, "you will never guess what happened next," which dares the listener to get it right while promising they cannot.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • In the specified sense, guess means to solve something through correct conjecture. en.wiktionary.org
    • The speculative sense can also be transitive. Context and meaning, rather than the direct object alone, distinguish the senses. simple.wiktionary.org
    • The quoted storyteller's expression is attested as an example of the correct-conjecture sense. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meaning

  1. 5
    verbobsolete
    To hit upon or reproduce something from memory; to recall it correctly.
    Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.
    c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”
    Note

    Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3 preserves this lost use: "Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them" asks for recall, not speculation. A modern reader can easily misread the line as an invitation to invent. Because the meaning is obsolete, it matters for reading older texts, not for present-day writing, where recall or remember does the job.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Henry VI, Part 3 is a play by William Shakespeare. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted words occur in Henry VI, Part 3, Act IV, scene i, spoken by King Edward to a messenger. folger.edu
    • Guess has an obsolete meaning involving reproduction from memory, supporting the interpretation of the line as a request for recall. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

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

Origin

From Middle English gessen (verb) and gesse (noun), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Danish getse ("to guess") and Old Norse roots, going back to Proto-Germanic *gitisōną, related to *getaną ("to get") and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ("to take, seize"). It is cognate with Danish gisne, Swedish gissa, and Dutch gissen, all meaning "to guess."

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  • Guess derives from Middle English gessen and gesse, probably through North Germanic, with Old Danish getse and reconstructed Old Norse antecedents. en.wiktionary.org
  • The proposed ancestry continues through Proto-Germanic *gitisōną and *getaną ('to get') to Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- ('to take, seize'). en.wiktionary.org
  • Danish gisne, Swedish gissa and Dutch gissen are cognates of guess and mean 'to guess'. en.wiktionary.org