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Guess vs Assume - What's the difference?

guess | assume |

As verbs the difference between guess and assume

is that guess is to reach a partly (or totally) unqualified conclusion while assume is to authenticate by means of belief; to surmise; to suppose to be true, especially without proof.

As a noun guess

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

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

    assume

    English

    Verb

    (assum)
  • To authenticate by means of belief; to surmise; to suppose to be true, especially without proof.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.}}
  • To take on a position, duty or form.
  • :
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:Trembling they stand while Jove assumes the throne.
  • *
  • *:Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability:it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=August 5, author=(Nathan Rabin)
  • , title= TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993) , passage=So while Ralph generally seems to inhabit a different, more glorious and joyful universe than everyone else here his yearning and heartbreak are eminently relateable. Ralph sometimes appears to be a magically demented sprite who has assumed the form of a boy, but he’s never been more poignantly, nakedly, movingly human than he is here.}}
  • To take on in appearance; to adopt (a feigned attribute, etc.).
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
  • *(Beilby Porteus) (1731-1809)
  • *:ambition assuming the mask of religion
  • To receive or adopt.
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:The sixth was a young knight of lesser renown and lower rank, assumed into that honorable company.
  • To adopt an idea or cause.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Anagrams

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