Surmises

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To form an opinion or conclusion based on incomplete information
2. to make an educated guess about something uncertain
3. to speculate without extensive evidence or proof about an event or situation

Etymology: "Surmises" is the third-person singular present form of "surmise," so it is the verb meaning to guess something without proof. The base word came into English from Old French "surmis," the past participle of "surmetre" (also "surmettre"), which meant "to accuse." That original sense is far from the modest guessing we associate with it now: to surmise was once to charge someone with a fault, and the accusation rested on suspicion rather than evidence. The word is built from two parts. The first, "sur-," comes from the Old French prefix meaning "upon" or "over," and the second, "metre," means "to put" or "to place." Put together, the idea was of placing a charge or claim upon someone. Over time the sense shifted from laying a claim against a person to putting forward a conjecture about a matter. The move from accusing to guessing is the centre of the word's history: a suspicion that once pointed at a person came to point at a possibility instead.

Synonyms: guesses, assumptions, hypotheses

Antonyms: certainties