From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Conjecture \Con*jec"ture\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Conjectured}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Conjecturing}.] [Cf. F. conjecturer. Cf. {Conject}.] To arrive at by conjecture; to infer on slight evidence; to surmise; to guess; to form, at random, opinions concerning.
Human reason can then, at the best, but conjecture what will be. --South.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Conjecture \Con*jec"ture\, verb (used without an object) To make conjectures; to surmise; to guess; to infer; to form an opinion; to imagine.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Conjecture \Con*jec"ture\ (; 135?), noun [L. conjectura, fr. conjicere, conjectum, to throw together, infer, conjecture; con- + jacere to throw: cf. F. conjecturer. See {Jet} a shooting forth.] An opinion, or judgment, formed on defective or presumptive evidence; probable inference; surmise; guess; suspicion.
He [Herodotus] would thus have corrected his first loose conjecture by a real study of nature. --Whewell.
Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm. --Milton.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: 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" [syn: {speculation}]
2: a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence [syn: {guess}, {supposition}, {surmise}, {surmisal}, {speculation}, {hypothesis}]
3: reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence
verb
1: to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps" [syn: {speculate}, {theorize}, {theorise}, {hypothesize}, {hypothesise}, {hypothecate}, {suppose}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
56 Moby Thesaurus words for "conjecture": assume, assumption, axiom, believe, blind guess, bold conjecture, conceive, conclude, deem, estimate, expect, fancy, feel, gather, give a guess, glean, guess, guesswork, hazard a conjecture, hunch, hypothesis, imagine, infer, inference, judge, perhaps, postulate, postulation, postulatum, premise, presume, presumption, presupposal, presupposition, pretend, proposition, risk assuming, rough guess, set of postulates, shot, speculation, stab, supposal, suppose, supposing, supposition, surmise, suspect, take for granted, tentatively suggest, thesis, think, unverified supposition, venture a guess, wild guess, working hypothesis
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