Surmise

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Surmise \Sur*mise"\ (s[^u]r*m[imac]z"), n. [OF. surmise
     accusation, fr. surmettre, p. p. surmis, to impose, accuse;
     sur (see {Sur-}) + mettre to put, set, L. mittere to send.
     See {Mission}.]
     1. A thought, imagination, or conjecture, which is based upon
        feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess; as, the


        surmises of jealousy or of envy.
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              [We] double honor gain
              From his surmise proved false.        --Milton.
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              No man ought to be charged with principles he
              actually disowns, unless his practicies contradict
              his profession; not upon small surmises. --Swift.
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     2. Reflection; thought. [Obs.] --Shak.
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     Syn: Conjecture; supposition; suspicion; doubt.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Surmise \Sur*mise"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Surmised}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Surmising}.]
     To imagine without certain knowledge; to infer on slight
     grounds; to suppose, conjecture, or suspect; to guess.
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           It wafted nearer yet, and then she knew
           That what before she but surmised, was true. --Dryden.
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           This change was not wrought by altering the form or
           position of the earth, as was surmised by a very
           learned man, but by dissolving it.       --Woodward.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  surmise
       n : a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
           [syn: {guess}, {conjecture}, {supposition}, {surmisal}, {speculation},
            {hypothesis}]
       v 1: infer from incomplete evidence
       2: imagine to be the case or true or probable; "I suspect he is
          a fugitive"; "I surmised that the butler did it" [syn: {suspect}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  100 Moby Thesaurus words for "surmise":
     account as, assume, assumption, axiom, be afraid, believe,
     blind guess, bold conjecture, conceive, conclude, conclusion,
     conjecture, consider, daresay, deduce, deem, divine, dream, esteem,
     estimate, expect, fancy, feel, feeling, gather, grant, guess,
     guesswork, have a hunch, have an idea, have an impression,
     have an inkling, have the idea, hold, hold as, hunch, hypothesis,
     hypothesize, imagine, infer, inference, judge, let, let be,
     look upon as, maintain, notion, opine, perhaps, postulate,
     postulation, postulatum, prefigure, premise, presume, presumption,
     presupposal, presuppose, presupposition, presurmise, pretend,
     proposition, provisionally accept, reckon, regard, repute,
     risk assuming, rough guess, say, sense, set down as,
     set of postulates, shot, speculate, speculation, stab, supposal,
     suppose, supposing, supposition, suspect, suspicion, take,
     take for, take for granted, take it, take to be, theorize, theory,
     thesis, think, trow, understand, understanding,
     unverified supposition, venture a guess, view as, ween, wild guess,
     working hypothesis