surmise
See also: surmisé
English
Etymology
From Old French surmis, past participle of surmetre, surmettre (“to accuse”), from sur- (“upon”) + metre (“to put”).
Pronunciation
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- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /sɚˈmaɪz/
Audio (AU): (file) - Hyphenation: sur‧mise
Noun
surmise (countable and uncountable, plural surmises)
- Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess.
- surmises of jealousy or of envy
- 1721, anonymous [Jonathan Swift], “The Sentiments of a Church of England-man with Respect to Religion and Government. Written in the Year, 1708”, in Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, 4th edition, Dublin: Printed by S. Fairbrother, book-seller, and are to be sold at his shop in Skinner-Row, over against the Tholsel, →OCLC, page 61:
- But ſurely no Man whatſoever ought in Justice or good Manners to be charged with Principles he actually diſowns, unleſs his Practices do openly and without the leaſt Room for Doubt, contradict his Profeſſion: Not upon ſmall Surmiſes, or becauſe he has the Miſfortune to have Ill Men ſometimes agree with him in a few general Sentiments.
- 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 32, in The Moon and Sixpence: A Novel (Heinemann's Colonial Library of Popular Fiction), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:
- The meeting had been devoid of incident. No word had been said to give me anything to think about, and any surmises I might make were unwarranted. I was intrigued.
- Reflection; thought; posit.
- c. 1606?, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, Act I, scene iii, page 133:
- My Thought, whoſe Murther yet is but fantaſticall, / Shakes ſo my ſingle ſtate of Man, / That Function is ſmother'd in ſurmiſe, / And nothing is, but what is not.
- 1816 October, John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer”, in H[enry] Buxton Forman, editor, The Complete Works of John Keats, volume I (Poems Published in 1817; Endymion), New York, N.Y.: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Publishers, published 1900–1901, →OCLC, page 47:
Translations
thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence
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Reflection; thought; posit
Verb
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- To imagine or suspect; to conjecture; to posit with contestable premises.
Translations
to imagine or suspect
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Further reading
- “surmise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “surmise”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /syʁ.miz/
- Homophones: surmisent, surmises
Verb
surmise
- first-person singular present indicative of surmiser
- third-person singular present indicative of surmiser
- first-person singular present subjunctive of surmiser
- third-person singular present subjunctive of surmiser
- second-person singular imperative of surmiser
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms derived from Old French
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with homophones
- French non-lemma forms
- French verb forms