surmise
verb /səˈmaɪz/
/sərˈmaɪz/
(formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they surmise | /səˈmaɪz/ /sərˈmaɪz/ |
| he / she / it surmises | /səˈmaɪzɪz/ /sərˈmaɪzɪz/ |
| past simple surmised | /səˈmaɪzd/ /sərˈmaɪzd/ |
| past participle surmised | /səˈmaɪzd/ /sərˈmaɪzd/ |
| -ing form surmising | /səˈmaɪzɪŋ/ /sərˈmaɪzɪŋ/ |
- to guess or suppose something using the evidence you have, without definitely knowing synonym conjecture
- surmise (that)… From the looks on their faces, I surmised that they had had an argument.
- surmise what, where, etc… It is difficult to surmise where she might have been staying.
- surmise something I can only surmise his reasons for acting as he did.
- + speech ‘They must have been here first,’ Julie surmised.
Extra ExamplesTopics Doubt, guessing and certaintyc2- Both men rightly surmised that he had left the building.
- What he had done with the money can only be surmised.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the senses ‘formal allegation’ and ‘allege formally’): from Anglo-Norman French and Old French surmise, feminine past participle of surmettre ‘accuse’, from late Latin supermittere ‘put in afterwards’, from super- ‘over’ + mittere ‘send’.