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Anticipate vs Guess - What's the difference?

anticipate | guess |

As verbs the difference between anticipate and guess

is that anticipate is to act before (someone), especially to prevent an action while guess is to reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.

As a noun guess is

a prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.

anticipate

English

Verb

(anticipat)
  • To act before (someone), especially to prevent an action.
  • To anticipate and prevent the duke's purpose. --R. Hall.
    He would probably have died by the hand of the executioner, if indeed the executioner had not been anticipated by the populace. -- .
  • to take up or introduce (something) prematurely.
  • The advocate plans to anticipate a part of her argument.
  • to know of (something) before it happens; to expect.
  • to anticipate the pleasures of a visit
    to anticipate the evils of life
    Please anticipate a journey of an hour from your house to the airport
  • * {{quote-book, year=1907, author=
  • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=31 citation , passage=The task was more to Appleby's liking than the one he had anticipated , and it was necessary, since the smaller merchants in Cuba and also in parts of Peninsular Spain have no great confidence in bankers, and prefer a packet of golden onzas or a bag of pesetas to the best accredited cheque.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011
  • , date=October 2 , author=Jonathan Jurejko , title=Bolton 1 - 5 Chelsea , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=And with Bolton suffering a wretched run of five straight home defeats - their worst run in 109 years - Chelsea fans would have been forgiven for expecting a comfortable win.
    But surely they did not anticipate the ease with which their team raced into an almost impregnable half-time lead.}}
  • to eagerly wait for (something)
  • Little Johnny started to anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus a week before Christmas.

    Usage notes

    The words anticipate'' and ''expect'' both regard some future event as likely to take place. Nowadays they are often used interchangeably although ''anticipate is associated with acting because of an expectation. (E.g. skilled sportsmen anticipate the action and position themselves accordingly.)

    Synonyms

    * (to act before someone) preclude * (to take up or introduce something prematurely) * (to know of something before it manifests) expect, foretaste, foresee * (to eagerly await something) look forward to

    guess

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

  • To reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion.
  • To solve by a correct conjecture; to conjecture rightly.
  • He who guesses the riddle shall have the ring.
  • (chiefly, US) to suppose (introducing a proposition of uncertain plausibility).
  • That album is quite hard to find, but I guess you could try ordering it online.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Not all together; better far, I guess , / That we do make our entrance several ways.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • But in known images of life I guess / The labour greater.
  • *
  • (obsolete) To hit upon or reproduce by memory.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Tell me their words, as near as thou canst guess them.
    Synonyms
    * hypothesize * take a stab * speculate
    Derived terms
    * foreguess * guess what * guessable * guesser * guessing game * guesstimate * guesswork * keep someone guessing * no prize for guessing * out-guess * second-guess * you'll never guess

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) gesse. Cognate with (etyl) .

    Noun

    (es)
  • A prediction about the outcome of something, typically made without factual evidence or support.
  • If you don't know the answer, take a guess .
  • *
  • Synonyms
    * estimate * hypothesis * prediction
    Derived terms
    * another-guess * anyone's guess * by guess or by gosh * educated guess * guesswork * guesstimate * otherguess * take a guess * your guess is as good as mine