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# guesswork

«guesswork» in Mova's school dictionary: **Finding an answer by guessing, without enough facts or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (guesswork — uncountable)

### meaning for a pupil

Finding an answer by guessing, without enough facts or careful working out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guesswork/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In maths and science lessons teachers say «show your working, not guesswork»: answers need reasons, measurements or calculations. In everyday life weather, cooking without a recipe or finding your way without a map may involve guesswork. Phrases: pure guesswork, a lot of guesswork, take the guesswork out of.

### examples

- My answer was pure guesswork, but it was right! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guesswork/#x1)
- A recipe takes the guesswork out of baking. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guesswork/#x2)
- Science uses evidence, not guesswork. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guesswork/#x3)
- Without a map, finding the path was guesswork. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guesswork/#x4)
- The teacher said, «I want calculations, not guesswork.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guesswork/#x5)
- Weather forecasts used to involve much more guesswork. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/guesswork/#x6)

### note

Uncountable: «a lot of guesswork», not «a guesswork». One word. Different from an estimate, which is a sensible guess based on facts.

### Trees and pragmatics

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