extrapolate
verb
ex·trap·o·late ik-ˈstra-pə-ˌlāt 
extrapolated; extrapolating
transitive verb
1
a
: to predict by projecting past experience or known data
extrapolate public sentiment on one issue from known public reaction on others
b
: to project, extend, or expand (known data or experience) into an area not known or experienced so as to arrive at a usually conjectural knowledge of the unknown area
extrapolates present trends to construct an image of the future
2
: to infer (values of a variable in an unobserved interval) from values within an already observed interval
intransitive verb
: to perform the act or process of extrapolating
extrapolation
ik-ˌstra-pə-ˈlā-shən
noun extrapolative
ik-ˈstra-pə-ˌlā-tiv
adjective extrapolator
ik-ˈstra-pə-ˌlā-tər
noun 
Did you know?
The Many Uses of Extrapolate
Scientists worry about the greenhouse effect because they have extrapolated the rate of carbon-dioxide buildup and predicted that its effect on the atmosphere will become increasingly severe. On the basis of their extrapolations, they have urged governments and businesses to limit factory and automobile emissions. Notice that it's acceptable to speak of extrapolating existing data (to produce new data), extrapolating from existing data (to produce new data), or extrapolating new data (from existing data)—in other words, it isn't easy to use this word wrong.
Synonyms
- conclude
- decide
- deduce
- derive
- gather
- infer
- judge
- make out
- reason
- understand
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
We can extrapolate the number of new students entering next year by looking at how many entered in previous years. With such a small study it is impossible to extrapolate accurately.
Recent Examples on the Web These maps extrapolate from past spillover events and ecological factors associated with them. 
Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2022 But Delsol and his co-authors are careful not to extrapolate much more. Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2022 The biologist questions, for example, the researchers’ use of a handful of survey sites in Oregon and Idaho to extrapolate monarch population trends across the entire Pacific Northwest. Wired, 9 July 2022 How best to extrapolate current trends is a matter of debate, said Dr. Srebotnjak, who has worked on past E.P.I. editions but was not involved in this year’s report or in developing the new metric. New York Times, 31 May 2022 The general notion is to use AI to examine existent molecular compounds, find computationally identifiable patterns, and then extrapolate from those patterns to propose new molecular compounds of a beneficial outcome. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 1 June 2022 Using the heading and speed from the ship’s log, Miller was able to extrapolate the position of the Lima at the time the crew claimed to have exited the glowing waters six hours later. Sam Keck Scott, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2022 When their previous report was published in 2017, the Williams Institute researchers did not have actual survey data for younger teenagers, instead using statistical modeling to extrapolate based on adult data. New York Times, 10 June 2022 Romanovsky’s boreholes, for instance, deliver very detailed measurements from specific places, but researchers have to extrapolate to draw larger conclusions. Lois Parshley, Anchorage Daily News, 3 May 2022 See More
Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2022 But Delsol and his co-authors are careful not to extrapolate much more. Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2022 The biologist questions, for example, the researchers’ use of a handful of survey sites in Oregon and Idaho to extrapolate monarch population trends across the entire Pacific Northwest. Wired, 9 July 2022 How best to extrapolate current trends is a matter of debate, said Dr. Srebotnjak, who has worked on past E.P.I. editions but was not involved in this year’s report or in developing the new metric. New York Times, 31 May 2022 The general notion is to use AI to examine existent molecular compounds, find computationally identifiable patterns, and then extrapolate from those patterns to propose new molecular compounds of a beneficial outcome. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 1 June 2022 Using the heading and speed from the ship’s log, Miller was able to extrapolate the position of the Lima at the time the crew claimed to have exited the glowing waters six hours later. Sam Keck Scott, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2022 When their previous report was published in 2017, the Williams Institute researchers did not have actual survey data for younger teenagers, instead using statistical modeling to extrapolate based on adult data. New York Times, 10 June 2022 Romanovsky’s boreholes, for instance, deliver very detailed measurements from specific places, but researchers have to extrapolate to draw larger conclusions. Lois Parshley, Anchorage Daily News, 3 May 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Latin extra outside + English -polate (as in interpolate) — more at extra-
First Known Use
1874, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 2
extrapolating
verb
as in deriving
to form an opinion or reach a conclusion through reasoning and information we can extrapolate from past economic recessions the probable course of the current one Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- deriving
- understanding
- deciding
- inferring
- deducing
- thinking
- reasoning
- guessing
- concluding
- assuming
- speculating
- judging
- ascertaining
- reading
- interpreting
- gathering
- supposing
- surmising
- conjecturing
- drawing a conclusion
- construing
- making out
- rationalizing
- contemplating
- philosophizing
- finding out
- doping (out)