estimate
Americanverb (used with object)
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estimates,
present (3rd person singular)
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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
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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.
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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
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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:
Still, Dallas president Lorie Logan warned: "I currently estimate the target range needs to rise an additional 50 basis points or more to appropriately balance the outlook and risks for our dual mandate goals."
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
The disruption is likely to trim Thai Airways’ 2026 earnings before interest and taxes by 230 million baht, which is equivalent to only 0.9% of DBS’s 2026 Ebit estimate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Even if they took the $1,000 and never added another cent to the account, the money could grow to approximately $5,000 in 18 years, according to one McKinsey & Co. estimate.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
Supporters estimate the tax would raise about $100 billion that would offset federal funding cuts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The theoretically more interesting field of inferential statistics uses probability theory to make predictions, to estimate important characteristics of a population, and to test the validity of hypotheses.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
By its own estimates, it controls around half of the U.S. frozen single-serve meal market when measured by volume, or the amount of items sold.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
Exports from the Persian Gulf have been growing strongly over the past week, with some estimates putting the flows nearing levels before the U.S.-Iran conflict, ANZ Research analysts say in a research report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Analysts also expect Tesla to have deployed 15.9 gigawatt hours of energy-storage products last quarter, according to estimates compiled by the company.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
At present, building and launching the orbital equivalent of a 1-gigawatt data center on Earth would cost around $30 billion, Elbert estimates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
He offered us 400 guilders for our chest; in our opinion, the other estimates are also too low.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
“R1 prompt at task/scaffold 22:34:01: Health-related SDGs visual, estimated prevalence of current/active tobacco use age 15+ in United States, year 1990,” read part of just one message.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
But drought, pesticides and habitat destruction triggered an unprecedented collapse that began in 2017, eventually wiping out an estimated 99.5 percent of the Bogong moth population.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have fled their homes there.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Many more children appear to be eligible for the accounts: An estimated 72 million children under age 18 live in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
The coroner estimated that her death occurred sometime between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. on October 26.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
However, estimating the current scale of SpaceX’s computing business can be difficult.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
He points to research estimating the environmental impact of cellulosic microfibers as one to two orders of magnitude lower than that of synthetic fibers, largely because they degrade faster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Even there, the population is small, with the most recent survey estimating just 140 mature individuals.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 14, 2026
“We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!” he wrote on X, estimating that there is a greater than 10% chance of human extinction from AI within the next decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
“So, with this detour,” Leo said, “I’m estimating four or five days to arrive at Epirus, assuming no delays for, you know, monster attacks and stuff.”
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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.
