surmise
Americanverb (used with object)
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surmises,
present (3rd person singular)
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surmised,
past participle, past
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surmising
present participle
verb (used without object)
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surmises,
present (3rd person singular)
-
surmised,
past participle, past
-
surmising
present participle
noun
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surmises
plural
-
a matter of conjecture.
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an idea or thought of something as being possible or likely.
-
a conjecture or opinion.
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
See guess.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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surmisesimple
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surmisessimple
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have surmisedperfect
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has surmisedperfect
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am surmisingprogressive
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are surmisingprogressive
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is surmisingprogressive
-
have been surmisingperfect progressive
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has been surmisingperfect progressive
Past
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surmisedsimple
-
had surmisedperfect
-
was surmisingprogressive
-
were surmisingprogressive
-
had been surmisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of surmise
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English surmisen, from Anglo-French surmis(e), Middle French “accused,” past participle of surmettre “to accuse,” from Latin supermittere “to throw upon,” from super super- + mittere “to let go, send”
Explanation
If you see empty ice cream containers on the table, sprinkles littering the ground, and a can of whipped cream in the trash, you can surmise what happened: someone made sundaes. To surmise is to form an opinion or make a guess about something. If you surmise that something is true, you don't have much evidence or knowledge about it. Near synonyms are guess, conjecture, and suppose. You might say, "I can't even surmise what he would do in such a situation." Surmise came to English from the French surmettre, "to accuse," which is formed from the prefix sur-, "on, upon," plus mettre, "to put" (from Latin mittere, "to send").
Vocabulary lists containing surmise
The Great Gatsby
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Grade 10, List 2
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Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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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:
The reason, they surmise: the shale-oil revolution, which turned the U.S. from a net importer of 12 million barrels a day into a net exporter of more than 3 million barrels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
When I surmise that the printed version of our conversation may have a lot of “redacted, redacted, redacted,” Peaches is quick to respond.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2026
We don’t really know who Isidora was: We can surmise that she was, most likely, the wife of a man of means, of high but not regal status.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
Shoehorning these random digressions into the film without any additional context to surmise their meaning just feels like Perkins is doing weird for weirdness’ sake.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2025
She wasn’t sure of the details, but she could surmise that he’d told someone at the Mission Training Center in Provo that he’d done something inappropriate in the lead-up to the mission.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Evans surmises the fish that survived were in an area of the creek where less charred material and sediment were swept in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
Brand surmises that the Dutch collaborator Seyffardt acquired the painting at the 1940 auction and it was then passed down throughout the generations.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
The author surmises that Goebbels discovered this and devised a way to get rid of her—sending Ruth out of Germany while simultaneously helping Japan establish a spy network in Hawaii.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
"It was an interesting childhood," Terry surmises, with a chuckle.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2025
She correctly surmises that he is a plumber.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
“I imagine there’s some sort of glitch or bug that’s blasting all your followers when you use similar captions,” they surmised.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026
Slemrod surmised that by 2030, the number of man-first tax returns might be 3 to 4 percentage points lower, or about 85% of heterosexual married couples.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 23, 2026
Hunnicutt surmised she was heading north because she didn’t come across signs of other wolves during her southern jaunt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026
He surmised that "Epstein knew a lot about taxes".
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
Wang Lung’s uncle began at this time to become the trouble which Wang Lung had surmised from the beginning that he might be.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
We can certainly understand that she’s supposed to come off as ardent and unyielding, even surmising that she’s unsure of how to love anyone else because of how improperly she’s been loved herself.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
And some were now surmising that we had engineered a vote that would promote women and diminish men, in the process making some kind of statement, though they weren’t clear on exactly what that was.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2024
I’m fairly confident in saying and surmising that his counsel at the time advised him against it and are probably somewhere saying “told you so.”
From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2023
Engoron, surmising that Trump was referring to his clerk, called the comments a "blatant" violation of the gag order.
From Reuters ● Oct. 25, 2023
Speculation has been rife as to the possible influence or even personal help of Joseph Guarneri at this point, but there is no solid foundation for surmising the presence of one or the other.
From Antonio Stradivari by Horace William Petherick
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