extrapolation
Americannoun
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an act or instance of inferring an unknown from something that is known.
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Statistics, Mathematics. the act or process of estimating the value of a variable or function outside the tabulated or observed range.
Etymology
Origin of extrapolation
First recorded in 1870–75; extrapolat(e) + -(t)ion
Explanation
An extrapolation is kind of like an educated guess or a hypothesis. When you make an extrapolation, you take facts and observations about a present or known situation and use them to make a prediction about what might eventually happen. Extrapolation comes from the word extra, meaning “outside,” and a shortened form of the word interpolation. Interpolation might sound like a made-up word, but it’s not. An interpolation is an insertion between two points. So an extrapolation is an insertion outside any existing points. If you know something about Monday and Tuesday, you might be able to make an extrapolation about Wednesday.
Vocabulary lists containing extrapolation
Artemis Fowl
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Cosmos
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"The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine," Vocabulary from the argument
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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.
“We’re doing a big extrapolation from watching videos of robots doing laundry to a butler in my house that can do everything,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025
In 2016, he co-authored an analysis published in The BMJ asserting that medical error is the third leading cause of death in the United States—a claim critics have dismissed as a wild extrapolation.
From Science Magazine • Nov. 25, 2024
Smothermon has argued that Glossip’s defenders made an incorrect extrapolation.
From Slate • Oct. 9, 2024
But that’s extrapolation – It says nothing about strict gender boundaries or the reality of transgender existence.
From Salon • Mar. 3, 2024
“I think it’s an extrapolation of giving consent for one’s children under eighteen, but it seems a little odd.”
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
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.
