surmise

See also: surmisé

English

WOTD – 22 October 2016

Etymology

From Old French surmis, past participle of surmetre, surmettre (“to accuse”), from sur- (“upon”) metre (“to put”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɜːˈmaɪz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɚˈmaɪz/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪz
• Hyphenation: sur‧mise

Noun

surmise (countable and uncountable, plural surmises)

1. Thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence; suspicion; guess.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:supposition

   surmises of jealousy or of envy

   This opinion, however, is merely a surmise, which may or may not be the case.

   • 1721, anonymous [Jonathan Swift], “The Sentiments of a Church of England-man with Respect to Religion and Government. Written in the Year, 1708”, in Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, 4th edition, Dublin: Printed by S. Fairbrother, book-seller, and are to be sold at his shop in Skinner-Row, over against the Tholsel, →OCLC, page 61:

     But ſurely no Man whatſoever ought in Justice or good Manners to be charged with Principles he actually diſowns, unleſs his Practices do openly and without the leaſt Room for Doubt, contradict his Profeſſion: Not upon ſmall Surmiſes, or becauſe he has the Miſfortune to have Ill Men ſometimes agree with him in a few general Sentiments.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 32, in The Moon and Sixpence: A Novel (Heinemann's Colonial Library of Popular Fiction), London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:

     The meeting had been devoid of incident. No word had been said to give me anything to think about, and any surmises I might make were unwarranted. I was intrigued.

   • 1962 April, “Talking of Trains: The future of Princes Street”, in Modern Railways, page 227:

     In short, the chances of the Princes Street terminal's survival seem unsure, though at the moment these views are no more than surmise.

2. Reflection; thought; posit.
   • c. 1606?, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act I, scene iii, page 133:

     My Thought, whoſe Murther yet is but fantaſticall, / Shakes ſo my ſingle ſtate of Man, / That Function is ſmother'd in ſurmiſe, / And nothing is, but what is not.

   • 1816 December 1, John Keats, “[Sonnets.] Sonnet XI. On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer.”, in Poems, London: […] [Charles Richards] for C[harles] & J[ames] Ollier, […], published 3 March 1817, →OCLC; reprinted in Poems (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, 1927, →OCLC, page 89:

     Then felt I like some watcher of the skies / When a new planet swims into his ken; / Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes / He star'd at the Pacific—and all his men / Look'd at each other with a wild surmise— / Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

Translations

thought, imagination, or conjecture, which may be based upon feeble or scanty evidence

• Bulgarian: предположение (bg) n (predpoloženie), догадка (bg) f (dogadka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 推測／推测 (zh) (tuīcè)

• Czech: domněnka (cs) f, dohad m, hypotéza (cs) f
• Dutch: vermoeden (nl) n
• Finnish: ennakkoluulo (fi), otaksuma (fi), oletus (fi)
• German: Vermutung (de) f, Mutmaßung (de) f
• Hungarian: sejtés (hu), feltételezés (hu), feltevés (hu)
• Persian: انگاشت (fa) (engâšt), گمان (gomân), پندار (fa) (pendâr)
• Polish: domysł (pl) m
• Portuguese: suspeita (pt) f
• Russian: подозре́ние (ru) n (podozrénije), до́мысел (ru) n (dómysel), предположе́ние (ru) n (predpoložénije)
• Slovak: domnienka f, hypotéza f

Reflection; thought; posit

• Finnish: ajatus (fi)
• Persian: گمان (gomân), اندیشه (fa) (andiše), بازتاب (fa) (bâztâb)
• Portuguese: imaginação (pt) f

Verb

surmise (third-person singular simple present surmises, present participle surmising, simple past and past participle surmised)

1. (intransitive) To imagine or suspect; to conjecture; to posit with contestable premises.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:suppose

   If, as I surmise, you see the ladies this evening, you might mention my intended visit.

Derived terms

• surmisable
• surmiser

 

Translations

to imagine or suspect

• Bulgarian: предполагам (bg) (predpolagam)
• Czech: domnívat se, tušit (cs), hádat
• Dutch: gissen (nl), vermoeden (nl)
• Finnish: otaksua (fi), olettaa (fi)
• French: présumer (fr), supposer (fr), suspecter (fr)
• German: vermuten (de), mutmaßen (de), annehmen (de)
• Hungarian: feltételez (hu), vél (hu), gyanít (hu)
• Italian: supporre (it)
• Japanese: 推測する (すいそくする, suisoku suru)
• Maori: māharahara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: formode (no), gjette

• Persian: گمان بردن (fa) (gomân bordan)
• Polish: domyślać się impf, domyślić się pf
• Portuguese: suspeitar (pt)
• Russian: подозревать (ru) (podozrevatʹ), предполага́ть (ru) impf (predpolagátʹ), предположи́ть (ru) pf (predpoložítʹ)
• Spanish: suponer (es), conjeturar (es), presumir (es)
• Swedish: förmoda (sv), gissa (sv)
• Ukrainian: припуска́ти impf (prypuskáty), припусти́ти pf (prypustýty)

Further reading

• “surmise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “surmise”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “surmise”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• misuser

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syʁ.miz/
• Homophones: surmisent, surmises

Verb

surmise

1. inflection of surmiser:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• mûrisse