Guesstimates

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An estimation based on conjecture or incomplete information, often involving some degree of guesswork and assumptions
2. A rough calculation or approximation arrived at through a combination of data and intuition rather than precise analysis
3. An informal determination of value or quantity that reflects an educated guess rather than an exact figure

Etymology: "Guesstimate" is a blend of "guess" and "estimate," and it is one of the few English words where the blend itself is the whole story. It was coined in the United States in the early twentieth century, and the earliest well-attested uses appear around the 1930s to 1950s in American English, mostly in technical, military and engineering contexts where people needed quick figures before detailed data existed. The mixing of two words into one follows the pattern of "blend" words like "smog" (smoke plus fog) or "motel" (motor plus hotel). The "guess" half carries the uncertainty, while the "estimate" half carries the sense of a reasoned number, which is why the word describes a calculation built from partial evidence rather than a pure hunch.

Synonyms: estimates, approximations, calculations

Antonyms: precisions, certainties