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

That was better than the 3.71 billion yuan estimate of analysts polled by Visible Alpha.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

An estimated 55,000 Danes live with the disease, and effective treatment options are still lacking.

Read more on Science Daily

He estimates he has worked in at least 25 different trades, from butcher to taquero to sound engineer, social media manager and nonprofit worker, none really fitting his life’s goal to do something “meaningful.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

That was a five percent jump on the 236.5 billion yuan logged in the same quarter last year and beat analyst estimates of 245.2 billion yuan.

Read more on Barron's

That is roughly in line with estimates from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for the 38 mostly rich countries that are its members.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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