conjecture

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.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kənˈd͡ʒɛk.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kənˈd͡ʒɛk.t͡ʃɚ/

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conjecture (countable and uncountable, plural conjectures)

1. (formal) A statement or an idea which is unproven, but is thought to be true; a guess.

   I explained it, but it is pure conjecture whether he understood, or not.

2. (formal) A supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis.

   The physicist used his conjecture about subatomic particles to design an experiment.

3. (mathematics, philology) A statement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven.
4. (obsolete) Interpretation of signs and omens.

• halseny
• See also Thesaurus:supposition

• conject
• conjectural

conjecture (third-person singular simple present conjectures, present participle conjecturing, simple past and past participle conjectured)

1. (formal, intransitive) To guess; to venture an unproven idea.

   I do not know if it is true; I am simply conjecturing here.

2. (transitive) To infer on slight evidence; to guess at.
   • South

     Human reason can then, at the best, but conjecture what will be.

• conjecture in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “conjecture” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
• conjecture in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Borrowed from Latin coniectūra.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.ʒɛk.tyʁ/

conjecture f (plural conjectures)

1. conjecture

Not to be confused with conjoncture.

conjecture

1. first-person singular present indicative of conjecturer
2. third-person singular present indicative of conjecturer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of conjecturer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of conjecturer
5. second-person singular imperative of conjecturer

• “conjecture” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

conjectūre

1. vocative masculine singular of conjectūrus

conjecture

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of conjecturar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of conjecturar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of conjecturar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of conjecturar