estimate
English
editAlternative forms
edit- æstimate (archaic)
Etymology
editBorrowed from Latin aestimātus, past participle of aestimō, older form aestumō (“to value, rate, esteem”); from Old Latin *ais-temos (“one who cuts copper”), meaning one in the Roman Republic who mints money. Compare Middle English estymatt (“reputed”). See also the doublet esteem, as well as aim.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editestimate (plural estimates)
- A rough calculation or assessment of the value, size, or cost of something.
- Synonyms: estimation, appraisal
- Coordinate term: esteem
- (construction and business) A document (or verbal notification) specifying how much a job is likely to cost.
- Hypernym: quote
- 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 3, in Well Tackled![1]:
- “They know our boats will stand up to their work,” said Willison, “and that counts for a good deal. A low estimate from us doesn't mean scamped work, but just that we want to keep the yard busy over a slack time.”
- An upper limitation on some positive quantity.
- 1992, Louis de Branges, “The convergence of Euler functions”, in Journal of Functional Analysis, , page 185:
- The desired norm estimate is now obtained from the identity... [referring to an earlier statement saying that a certain norm is less than or equal to a certain expression]
Derived terms
editTranslations
editrough calculation or guess
|
(construction and business) a document specifying how much a job will probably cost
|
Verb
editestimate (third-person singular simple present estimates, present participle estimating, simple past and past participle estimated)
- To calculate roughly, often from imperfect data.
- 1965, Ian Hacking, Logic of Statistical Inference[2]:
- I estimate that I need 400 board feet of lumber to complete a job, and then order 350 because I do not want a surplus, or perhaps order 450 because I do not want to make any subsequent orders.
- 2003, Alexander J. Field, Gregory Clark, William A. Sundstrom, Research in Economic History[3]:
- Higher real prices for durables are estimated to have reduced their consumption per capita by 1.09% in 1930, […]
- To judge and form an opinion of the value of, from imperfect data.
- 1691, [John Locke], Some Considerations of the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money. […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], published 1692, →OCLC:
- It is by the weight of silver, and not the name of the piece, that men estimate commodities and exchange them.
- 1870, John Campbell Shairp, Culture and Religion in Some of Their Relations:
- It is always very difficult to estimate the age in which you are living.
Synonyms
editDerived terms
editTranslations
editto calculate roughly
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Further reading
edit- “estimate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “estimate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “estimate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams
editItalian
editEtymology 1
editVerb
editestimate
- inflection of estimare:
Etymology 2
editParticiple
editestimate f pl
Anagrams
editSpanish
editVerb
editestimate
- second-person singular voseo imperative of estimar combined with te
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Old Latin
- English doublets
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English heteronyms
- English reporting verbs
- en:Mathematics
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian verb forms
- Italian past participle forms
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms