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# guess

«guess» in Mova's school dictionary: **to give an answer when you are not sure, without knowing…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (guess, guesses, guessed, guessing); noun (guess, guesses)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To guess means to give an answer when you are not sure, without knowing all the facts. A guess is that answer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#m1)

2) To guess right is to find the right answer by guessing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#m2)

3) «I guess» in everyday talk means «I think» or «I suppose». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In maths: an estimate that is later checked; «guess and check» (trial and improvement) is a way to solve a problem; how far off a guess was = difference. In science: a hypothesis is a careful guess that is tested. In games: guess the word, guess who. Phrases: guess and check, make a guess, a good guess, a wild guess, guess what, take a guess.

### examples

- Guess how many beans are in the jar. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x1)
- Her guess was 50, but there were 62. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x2)
- How far off was his guess? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x3)
- Use guess and check to find the two numbers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x4)
- Can you guess what is in the box? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x5)
- Guess what? We are getting a puppy! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x6)
- My guess is that it will rain later. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x7)
- He guessed the answer right. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x8)
- That was just a wild guess. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x9)
- Then she guessed what had happened. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/#x10)

### note

The u is silent: say «gess». Plural «guesses». An estimate is a sensible guess based on what you know. A guess is compared with the real number: difference = bigger − smaller. Trap: «off by» does not care which is bigger.

### In the corpora

- [What has been blown up or guessed?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/41-our-street-who-parked-where-and-who-won-what/5/)
- [An ambulance outside a house tells you someone needed help, not who or why; offer help, not guesses.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/41-our-street-who-parked-where-and-who-won-what/21/)
- [Stories grow because people fill gaps with guesses, round numbers up, and add a twist that makes the tale better to tell.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/2/)
- [One clue plus a guess plus another guess feels like news, but it is not.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/3/)
- [Repeat a guess enough times and it sticks to a person like a label.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/43-our-street-when-a-guess-becomes-a-reputation/2/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «guess» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guess/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.