SURMISE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does surmise mean? 

• SURMISE (noun)
  The noun SURMISE has 1 sense:

1. a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

  Familiarity information: SURMISE used as a noun is very rare.

• SURMISE (verb)
  The verb SURMISE has 2 senses:

1. infer from incomplete evidence

2. imagine to be the case or true or probable

  Familiarity information: SURMISE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SURMISE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

conjecture; guess; hypothesis; speculation; supposition; surmisal; surmise

Hypernyms ("surmise" is a kind of...):

opinion; view (a message expressing a belief about something; the expression of a belief that is held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "surmise"):

divination (successful conjecture by unusual insight or good luck)

Derivation:

surmise (infer from incomplete evidence)

surmise (imagine to be the case or true or probable)

• SURMISE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they surmise    ... he / she / it surmises   
Past simple: surmised   
Past participle: surmised   
-ing form: surmising   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Infer from incomplete evidence

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "surmise" is one way to...):

deduce; deduct; derive; infer (reason by deduction; establish by deduction)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

surmisal; surmise (a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Imagine to be the case or true or probable

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

surmise; suspect

Context example:

I surmised that the butler did it

Hypernyms (to "surmise" is one way to...):

guess; hazard; pretend; venture (put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

surmise (a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence)

 Context examples 

I fear it was no dream, and must act on this surmise.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was imputed to very reasonable weariness, and she was thanked and pitied; but she deserved their pity more than she hoped they would ever surmise.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

To that surmise, you say nothing, of course; but confess, Emma, that you did want him to marry Harriet.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“My surmise, as you saw, proved to be correct,” said he, speaking from the depths of his easy-chair.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Because of this he could not follow the arguments closely, and he could only guess at and surmise the ideas wrapped up in such strange expressions.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was easy to make my further arrangements; for I was troubled with no inquiries—no surmises.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I am, as you have no doubt surmised, endeavouring to trace these busts to their source, in order to find if there is not something peculiar which may account for their remarkable fate.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These few hardy bees, the researchers surmise, may share a limited bag of tricks pollination-wise, when what the apple flower really needs is the diverse “talents” of a species-rich community.

(Diverse Bee Communities Best for Apple Orchards, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Scientists surmised that the molecule was spontaneously thrown together within the bellies of these gas giants and, as Sousa-Silva describes, violently dredged up by huge, planet-sized convective storms.

(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

And with that I sketched out to him the whole long chain of surmise and of proof which I had constructed.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)