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conjecture

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A guess based on incomplete information.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhnjehkcher

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

kənˈdʒɛktʃɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. formal

    A statement or an idea which is unproven, but is thought to be true; a guess.

  2. formal

    A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

  3. formal

    Reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence

  4. formal

    A supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis.

  5. mathematicslinguistics

    A statement likely to be true based on available evidence, but which has not been formally proven.

verb

  1. formalintransitive

    To guess; to venture an unproven idea.

  2. transitive

    To infer on slight evidence; to guess at.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

Used this way, conjecture is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in academic writing contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Formal
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Formal and precise

Where it naturally appears

  • Academic writing

Usage note

Comfortable in writing and prepared speech; in casual conversation a shorter everyday word usually sounds more natural.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

mere conjecturepure conjectureprobable conjecture

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: statement or an idea which is unproven

surmise

verb

Sense: to guess

speculatesurmisetheorizetheoriseRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.