estimate
Americanverb (used with object)
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estimates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
estimated,
past participle, past
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estimating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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estimates,
present (3rd person singular)
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estimated,
past participle, past
-
estimating
present participle
noun
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estimates
plural
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an approximate judgment or calculation, as of the value, amount, time, size, or weight of something.
- Synonyms:
- appraisal, calculation, valuation
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a judgment or opinion, as of the qualities of a person or thing.
-
a statement of the approximate charge for work to be done, submitted by a person or business firm ready to undertake the work.
verb
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to form an approximate idea of (distance, size, cost, etc); calculate roughly; gauge
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(tr; may take a clause as object) to form an opinion about; judge
to estimate one's chances
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to submit (an approximate price) for (a job) to a prospective client
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(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
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an approximate calculation
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a statement indicating the likely charge for or cost of certain work
-
a judgment; appraisal; opinion
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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estimatornoun
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preestimatenoun
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reestimatenoun
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self-estimatenoun
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preestimateverb (used with object)
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reestimateverb (used with object)
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estimativeadjective
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unestimatedadjective
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well-estimatedadjective
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estimatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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estimatesimple
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estimatessimple
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have estimatedperfect
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has estimatedperfect
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am estimatingprogressive
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are estimatingprogressive
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is estimatingprogressive
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have been estimatingperfect progressive
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has been estimatingperfect progressive
Past
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estimatedsimple
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had estimatedperfect
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was estimatingprogressive
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were estimatingprogressive
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had been estimatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of estimate
First recorded in 1525–35; from Latin aestimātus “valued,” past participle of aestimāre “to value, fix the value of”
Explanation
A rough calculation or appraisal is an estimate. When you hit another baseball through the kitchen window, your parents will get an estimate of the repair costs. And you should estimate being grounded for approximately 3 weeks. An estimate is kind of like a very educated guess. Making an estimate takes good evaluation skills, and usually estimates are pretty close to the actual outcome. If the garage bill is way higher than the estimate they gave you, for example, you have a right to be angry. But if you forgot to factor in rush hour traffic when you estimated the drive from Boston to New York, that's your own fault.
Vocabulary lists containing estimate
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Arithmetic
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Tax Day Words
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
OTTAWA—Factory sales in Canada climbed in June for a fifth straight month-over-month gain, adding to momentum that could deliver second-quarter growth well above the Bank of Canada’s original estimate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The technology conglomerate posted revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter of $17.3 billion, up 18% from a year earlier and higher than analysts’ consensus estimate of $16.8 billion, according to FactSet.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
By analyzing how the dye moved, the AI could estimate both the speed of the fluid and the permeability of the surrounding brain tissue.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
We know that over the past half-century, more than 200 people have been exonerated after having been sentenced to die, and scholars estimate that 4 percent of those sentenced to death are innocent.
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2026
When he finally splashed down, he was off by forty miles, only because of an incorrect estimate in the capsule’s reentry weight.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
The UN estimates that about 1.9 million people - 90% of Gaza's population - have been displaced since the war started.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Recent estimates indicate that nearly 40% of Alzheimer's cases may be connected to such factors.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Coface estimates 3.5% of trade among East Asia, Europe and North America will be able to use Arctic routes within the next five years, representing $64 billion in goods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
The government has declared an "economic emergency" but has not yet published estimates of how much rebuilding the quake zone will cost.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Indeed, it is the same figure provided by Las Casas, patron saint of High Counters, foremost among the old Spanish sources whose estimates Henige spends many pages discounting.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Talk of City signing 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi has been rumbling all summer, and the club have reportedly held talks with the Moroccan, who would cost an estimated £85m.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
More than 500,000 people in the Netherlands are estimated to have the condition, and that number is expected to increase in the years ahead.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Between 2017 and last year, China’s imports of Iranian oil are estimated to have more than doubled to roughly 1.4 million barrels a day, according to Kpler, a commodity research firm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
An AFP reporter estimated that around 20-30 people in uniforms were there.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
“The social workers estimated she was two months old when she came to us, give or take a couple of weeks. That was January thirtieth. So we decided we’d celebrate November thirtieth as her birthday.”
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
The team also used generalized estimating equation models to examine how cardiovascular factors were related to changes in cognition.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
“An offshore field with 15 to 20 wells might produce 150,000 barrels a day,” Robotti said, while estimating that an onshore well might produce “a thousand barrels a day if you are lucky.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
The staggering $1.4 trillion in alleged damages comes from estimating the number of affected users in the four states.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
Company officials said they remain “committed to the fastest remediation possible,” estimating that the cleanup was about 80% complete.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Joliot’s team accomplished that task in March, estimating the yield of secondary neutrons from U-235 at about 3.5 neutrons per uranium fission.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
