Meanings
- idiomaticby ellipsis; rhetoric question; by ellipsis; rhetoric questionUsed to introduce a surprising outcome or one that the hearer is not expected to try to guess.
Have you ever said “abracadabra”, “hocus pocus”, or “presto chango”? Well, guess what? You were casting a spell!
2011, Jen Jones, The Girl's Guide to Wizards: Everything Magical about These Spellbinders, page 172 more examples
Guess what the top two success drivers were from his detailed research: a unique, superior, differentiated product; strong market orientation and voice of the customer built in. Guess what the top two deficiencies were: lack of market orientation; poor quality of execution.
2007, David Richmond, The Software Entrepreneur’s Template, page 15She started down on one end, and whether she knew you or not, she walked right up to you, got six inches away from your face, and said, “Guess what, I won!”
2011, Bob Merritt, When Life's Not Working: 7 Simple Choices for a Better Tomorrow, page 57 - idiomaticUsed to dramatize the introduction of an unsurprising outcome.
I've only had two job interviews and – guess what – no job offers.
1 more example
Yesterday evening at 6:30 P.M. there's a new charge nurse, he's going to give me my seizure medication and guess what? There isn't any!
2011, Sandra Gila, Vortex: The Journey of a Nursing Home Survivor, page 160Synonyms: you know what
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseUsed to dramatize the introduction of an unsurprising outcome.
Origin
Perhaps an ellipsis of "(can you) guess what I am about to say/what happened next?"
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 你猜怎麽着
- 你猜怎麽着 (nǐ cāi zěnme zhe)used to dramatize the unsurprising
Dutch raad eens
- raad eensused to dramatize the unsurprising
Finnish arvaa mitä
- arvaa mitäused to dramatize the unsurprising
French devine quoi, je te le donne en mille
- devine quoiused to dramatize the unsurprising
- je te le donne en milleused to dramatize the unsurprising
German rate mal
- rate malused to dramatize the unsurprising
Italian indovina
- indovinaused to dramatize the unsurprising
Polish wiesz co
- wiesz coused to dramatize the unsurprising
Portuguese adivinha, adivinha só
- adivinhaused to dramatize the unsurprising
- adivinha sóused to dramatize the unsurprising
Romanian ghici ce
- ghici ceused to dramatize the unsurprising
Russian прикинь
- прикинь (prikinʹ)used to dramatize the unsurprising
Spanish adivina qué
- adivina quéused to dramatize the unsurprising
Swedish gissa vad
- gissa vadused to dramatize the unsurprising
Turkish bil bakalım ne oldu
- bil bakalım ne olduused to dramatize the unsurprising
Cite this entry
guess what. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guess%20what
“guess what.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guess%20what. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “guess what,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guess%20what.
Source: guess what on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.