estimate

[es-tuh-meyt, es-tuh-mit, -meyt]

verb (used with object)

estimated, estimating 

1. to form an approximate judgment or opinion regarding the worth, amount, size, weight, etc., of; calculate approximately.

   to estimate the cost of a college education.

   Synonyms: appraise, evaluate, value, assess, gauge, reckon, count, compute

2. to form an opinion of; judge.

verb (used without object)

estimated, estimating 

1. to make an estimate.

noun

1. an approximate judgment or calculation, as of the value, amount, time, size, or weight of something.

   Synonyms: appraisal, calculation, valuation

2. a judgment or opinion, as of the qualities of a person or thing.

3. a statement of the approximate charge for work to be done, submitted by a person or business firm ready to undertake the work.

estimate

verb

1. to form an approximate idea of (distance, size, cost, etc); calculate roughly; gauge

2. (tr; may take a clause as object) to form an opinion about; judge

   to estimate one's chances

3. to submit (an approximate price) for (a job) to a prospective client

4. (tr) statistics to assign a value (a point estimate ) or range of values (an interval estimate ) to a parameter of a population on the basis of sampling statistics See estimator

noun

1. an approximate calculation

2. a statement indicating the likely charge for or cost of certain work

3. a judgment; appraisal; opinion

Other Word Forms

• estimatingly adverb
• estimator noun
• preestimate noun
• reestimate noun
• self-estimate noun
• unestimated adjective
• well-estimated adjective
• estimative adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of estimate¹

First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin aestimātus “valued,” past participle of aestimāre “to value, fix the value of”

Word History and Origins

Origin of estimate¹

C16: from Latin aestimāre to assess the worth of, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

The 2024 fires released an estimated 791 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which roughly equates to the annual emissions of Germany.

Read more on Science Daily

Stamp duty brought in an estimated £13.9bn in the last financial year, but a large proportion of this is from additional homes and other buildings.

Read more on BBC

This time around, professional contractors would shoot the island’s estimated 2,165 deer on the ground with rifles, said Pepe Barton, communications director for the conservancy.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The global medical tourism industry is worth tens of billions of dollars and is projected to grow significantly over the next decade, according to market estimates.

Read more on BBC

It says its methodology does not include any estimates and that it is the only organisation collating the figures since the Office for National Statistics stopped doing so in 2022.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• appraisal 
• assessment 
• conclusion 
• estimation 
• evaluation 
• guess 
• measure 
• measurement 
• opinion 
• projection 
• rating 
• survey 
• valuation