second-guess

See also: second guess

English

Alternative forms

• second guess

Etymology

A back-formation from second guesser, originally from baseball. First use appears c. 1941.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.əndˌɡɛs/
• (General American) enPR: sĕkʹəndgĕs', IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.(ə)ndˌɡɛs/, /ˈsɛk.(ə)ntˌɡɛs/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛk.ɪndˌɡɛs/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsek.ən(t)ˌɡes/

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

Verb

second-guess (third-person singular simple present second-guesses, present participle second-guessing, simple past and past participle second-guessed)

1. (transitive) To vet or evaluate; to criticize or correct, often by hindsight, by presuming to have a better idea, method, etc.

   Synonyms: reconsider, rethink, think over

   Please don't try to second-guess the procedure that we have already refined and adopted.

   Once she began listening to her instincts and didn't second-guess herself the entire time, her artwork improved noticeably.

   • 1959, U.S. Court of Appeals proceedings:

     Public administration would be hamstrung if courts were free to second-guess reasonable administrative decisions.

   • 1957, United States Senate proceedings:

     As a practical matter, a fertilizer company could not afford to second-guess the Federal Trade Commission or a jury in a triple damage case on so obscure a point.

   • 2003, Editing Today:

     If you suspect you've stepped over the line, ask a few other copy editors to second-guess your headline.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To anticipate or predict someone's actions or thoughts by guesswork.
   • 2000, Paul Godfrey, Ross Godfrey, Skye Edwards, “Rome Wasn't Built In a Day”, in Fragments of Freedom, performed by Morcheeba:

     In this day and age, it's so easy to stress / 'Cause people are strange and you can never second-guess

   • 2010 April 24, “Greedy Until Proven Guilty”, in The Economist, volume 395, number 8679, page 13:

     The Securities and Exchange Commission says Goldman misled two clients by failing to give adequate disclosure. […] It is impossible to second-guess the case's outcome. But Goldman is already viewed by many as guilty.

   • 2019 November 6, Dennis Fancett, Rail, page 54:

     But it is not Network Rail's job to second guess whether the sponsoring authority really does need the scheme, and whether it has looked at other options.

Related terms

• second guesser

Translations

to vet or evaluate

• Armenian: վերանայել (hy) (veranayel)
• Dutch: heroverwegen (nl)
• Finnish: kyseenalaistaa (fi), arvostella jälkikäteen, jälkiviisastella
• German: in Frage stellen, überdenken (de), überprüfen (de)
• Italian: valutare (it), criticare (it), sindacare (it)
• Polish: podważać (pl) impf, podważyć (pl) pf, krytykować (pl) impf, skrytykować (pl) pf
• Portuguese: repensar (pt), reconsiderar (pt)
• Russian: (somewhat) критикова́ть (ru) (kritikovátʹ), суди́ть задним числом (sudítʹ zadnim čislom)
• Slovak: prehodnocovať, spochybňovať
• Spanish: evaluar (es), criticar (es), reconsiderar (es), cuestionar (es), pensar[lo] dos veces, dudar (es)

See also

• second thoughts
• question mark (particle)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “second-guess”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “second-guess” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “second-guess”, in Encyclopedia.com‎^[1], (Can we date this quote?)
• “second-guess”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• "second-guess" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.
• “second-guess”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.