n. | 1. | An opinion, or judgment, formed on defective or presumptive evidence; probable inference; surmise; guess; suspicion. |
v. t. | 1. | To arrive at by conjecture; to infer on slight evidence; to surmise; to guess; to form, at random, opinions concerning. |
v. i. | 1. | To make conjectures; to surmise; to guess; to infer; to form an opinion; to imagine. |
Noun | 1. | conjecture - a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence); "speculations about the outcome of the election"; "he dismissed it as mere conjecture" Synonyms: speculation |
2. | conjecture - a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence | |
3. | conjecture - reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence | |
Verb | 1. | conjecture - to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps" |
CONJECTURE. Conjectures are ideas or notions founded on probabilities without any demonstration of their truth. Mascardus has defined conjecture: "rationable vestigium latentis veritatis, unde nascitur opinio sapientis;" or a slight degree of credence arising from evidence too weak or too remote to produce belief. De Prob. vol. i. quoest. 14, n. 14. See Dict. de Trevoux, h.v.; Denisart, h.v.
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