guessverb/ɡɛs/

• 1

  To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate.

  • We can only guess at what was going through her mind.
  • She guessed that the delivery driver must have got stuck in traffic.
• 2

  To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.

  • He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.
  • You guessed the right answer!
• 3

  To suppose, to imagine (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).

  • That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.
  • Not all together; better far, I guess, / That we do make our entrance several ways.
• 4

  To think, conclude, or decide (without a connotation of uncertainty). Usually in first person: "I guess".

  • "I guess you were right." "What did he say?" "He guesses you were right."
  • "I guess I'll go to bed."
• 5

  obsoleteTo hit upon or reproduce by memory.

  • Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.

guessnoun/ɡɛs/

• 1

  A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.

  • If you don't know the answer, take a guess.
  • "But I shall have eleven guesses," answered Ozma. "Surely I ought to guess one object in eleven correctly; and, if I do, I shall rescue one of the royal family and be safe myself. Then the rest of you may attempt it, and soon we shall free all those who are enslaved."