Meanings
nounconjecture (countable and uncountable, plural conjectures)
plural conjectures
- countableformaluncountableA supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis.
The physicist used his conjecture about subatomic particles to design an experiment.
- countableobsoleteuncountableInterpretation of signs and omens.
verbconjecture (third-person singular simple present conjectures, present participle conjecturing, simple past and past participle conjectured)
present singular third person conjectures · participle present conjecturing · participle past conjectured · past conjectured
- formalintransitiveTo guess; to venture an unproven idea.
I do not know if it is true; I am simply conjecturing here.
1 more example
What could have been done by such a machine downhill can only be conjectured, for the maximum speed was restricted rigidly to 80 m.p.h.
1952 December, 'Mercury', “Modern French Locomotive Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 804 - transitiveTo 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)
1 more example
"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.
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
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence)
Similar
Broader
nouna message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
verbto believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds
Broader
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinconiectūra“a guess”
- Englishconjecture
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, deject, abject, surjection, bijection, interject. Compare typologically Russian прики́дывать (prikídyvatʹ) (akin to кида́ть (kidátʹ)).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ὑπονοέω
- ὑπονοέω (huponoéō)to guess
Arabic فَرَضِيَّة, اِفْتِرَاض
- فَرَضِيَّة (faraḍiyya)unproven statement; guess
- اِفْتِرَاض (iftirāḍ)unproven statement; guess
- تَخْمِين (taḵmīn)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
Bulgarian предположение, догадка
- предположение (predpoloženie)unproven statement; guess
- догадка (dogadka)unproven statement; guess
- догадка (dogadka)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- предполагам (predpolagam)to guess
Chinese Mandarin 臆測 /臆测, 推測 /推测
- 臆測 /臆测 (yìcè)unproven statement; guess
- 推測 /推测 (tuīcè)unproven statement; guess
- 猜想 (cāixiǎng)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- 假說 /假说 (jiǎshuō)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- 猜想 (cāixiǎng)statement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- 推測 /推测 (tuīcè)to guess
Czech dohad, konjektura
- dohadunproven statement; guess
- konjekturaunproven statement; guess
- domněnkaunproven statement; guess
Dutch gissing, giswerk
- gissingunproven statement; guess
- giswerkunproven statement; guess
- conjectuurunproven statement; guess
- conjectuursupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- hypothesesupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- vermoedensupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- hypothesestatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- vermoedenstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- gissento guess
- vermoedento guess
- veronderstellento guess
Esperanto konjekti
- konjektito guess
Finnish arvelu, arvaus
- arveluunproven statement; guess
- arvausunproven statement; guess
- olettamusunproven statement; guess
- otaksumaunproven statement; guess
- olettamussupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- hypoteesisupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- otaksumastatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- olettamusstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- väitestatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- arvaillato guess
French conjecture, conjecture
- conjectureunproven statement; guess
- conjecturesupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- conjecturestatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- conjecturerto guess
German Vermutung, Verdacht
- Vermutungunproven statement; guess
- Verdachtunproven statement; guess
- Mutmaßungunproven statement; guess
- Vermutungsupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- Hypothesesupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- Konjektursupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- Vermutungstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- Hypothesestatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- vermutento guess
- mutmaßento guess
- spekulierento guess
Greek εικασία, υπόθεση
- εικασία (eikasía)unproven statement; guess
- υπόθεση (ypóthesi)unproven statement; guess
- υπόθεση (ypóthesi)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- υπόθεση (ypóthesi)statement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- εικάζω (eikázo)to guess
- υποθέτω (ypothéto)to guess
Hebrew השערה
- השערה (hash'ará)statement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
Hungarian feltételezés, feltevés
- feltételezésunproven statement; guess
- feltevésunproven statement; guess
- sejtésunproven statement; guess
- találgatásunproven statement; guess
- feltevéssupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- hipotézissupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- sejtésstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- feltételezto guess
- találgatto guess
- feltételezésekbe bocsátkozikto guess
Icelandic tilgáta
- tilgátastatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
Irish buille faoi thuairim
- buille faoi thuairimunproven statement; guess
Italian congettura, congetturare
- congetturaunproven statement; guess
- congetturareto guess
Japanese 推測, 忖度
- 推測 (suisoku)unproven statement; guess
- 忖度 (sontaku)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- 推測する (suisoku suru)to guess
Latin coniectūra, opīnor
- coniectūraunproven statement; guess
- opīnorto guess
- Latin: coniectōto guess
Māori pūmāramarama, tāiringa kōrero
- pūmāramaramaunproven statement; guess
- tāiringa kōrerounproven statement; guess
- pūmāramaramasupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- pūmāramaramastatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
Norwegian Bokmål gjetning, gjetting
- gjetningunproven statement; guess
- gjettingunproven statement; guess
- gjettverkunproven statement; guess
- antakelseunproven statement; guess
- formodningunproven statement; guess
- formodningsupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- konjekturstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
Polish przypuszczenie, domysł
- przypuszczenieunproven statement; guess
- domysłunproven statement; guess
- hipotezasupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- teoriastatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- przypuszczaćto guess
- przypuścićto guess
- snuć domysłyto guess
Portuguese conjetura, conjectura
- conjeturaunproven statement; guess
- conjecturaunproven statement; guess
- hipótesesupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- conjeturastatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- conjecturastatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- conjeturarto guess
Romanian ipoteză, presupunere
- ipotezăunproven statement; guess
- presupunereunproven statement; guess
- ipotezăsupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- supozițiestatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- teoremăstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
Russian предположе́ние, дога́дка
- предположе́ние (predpoložénije)unproven statement; guess
- дога́дка (dogádka)unproven statement; guess
- гипо́теза (gipóteza)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- предположе́ние (predpoložénije)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- дога́дка (dogádka)supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- предположе́ние (predpoložénije)statement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- гада́ть (gadátʹ)to guess
- предполага́ть (predpolagátʹ)to guess
Scottish Gaelic tuairmse, barail
- tuairmseunproven statement; guess
- barailunproven statement; guess
- tomhasunproven statement; guess
- tuairmsesupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- barailsupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- tomhassupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- tuairmsestatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- barailstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
Slovak konjektúra
- konjektúraunproven statement; guess
Spanish conjetura, conjetura
- conjeturaunproven statement; guess
- conjeturasupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- conjeturastatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- conjeturarto guess
- barruntarto guess
- elucubrarto guess
Swedish förmodan, förmodan
- förmodanunproven statement; guess
- förmodansupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- hypotessupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- förmodanstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
- förmodato guess
Turkish konjektür, tahmin
- konjektürunproven statement; guess
- tahminsupposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis
- konjektürstatement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven
Cite this entry
APA
conjecture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conjecture
MLA
“conjecture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conjecture. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “conjecture,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conjecture.
Source: conjecture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.