estimate

estimate

English

Alternative forms

• æstimate (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aestimatus, past participle of aestimō, older form aestumo (“to value, rate, esteem”); from Old Latin *ais-temos (“one who cuts copper”), meaning one in the Roman Republic who mints money. See also the doublet esteem, as well as aim.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛstɨmɨt/ (noun)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛstɨˌmeɪ̪t/ (verb)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

estimate (plural estimates)

1. A rough calculation or assessment of the value, size, or cost of something.
2. (construction and business) A document (or verbal notification) specifying how much a job is likely to cost.
   • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 3, in Well Tackled!‎:

     “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.”

3. An upper limitation on some positive quantity.
   • 1992, Louis de Branges, “The convergence of Euler functions”, in Journal of Functional Analysis, DOI:10.1016/0022-1236(92)90103-P, 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]

Synonyms

• estimation
• appraisal

Derived terms

• ballpark estimate

Translations

rough calculation or guess

Armenian: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: пресмятане (bg) n (presmjatane), приблизителна оценка f (priblizitelna ocenka) Chinese: Mandarin: 估計／估计 (zh) (gūjì) Czech: odhad (cs) m Danish: estimat Dutch: schatting (nl) f Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: hinnang Faroese: ætl n Finnish: arvio (fi) French: estimation (fr) f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Schätzung (de) f, Abschätzung (de) f Greek: υπολογισμός (el) (ypologismós) Hungarian: becslés (hu) Italian: stima (it) f Japanese: 推定 (ja) (suitei) Khmer: វោលោកនៈ (km) (voulouka’na’) Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Polish: oszacowanie (pl) n Portuguese: estimativa (pt) f, cálculo (pt) Romanian: estimare (ro) f Russian: оце́нка (ru) f (océnka) Scottish Gaelic: tuairmse m Slovene: ocena (sl) f Spanish: presupuesto (es), estimación (es) m Swedish: uppskattning (sv), skattning (sv) Telugu: అంచనా (te) (añcanā) Thai: please add this translation if you can Ukrainian: оці́нка (uk) (ocínka), кошто́рис (koštórys) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Welsh: amcangyfrif (cy) m

(construction and business) a document specifying how much a job will probably cost

Bulgarian: осметка f (osmetka), калкулация (bg) f (kalkulacija) Finnish: arvio (fi) French: devis (fr) m German: Kostenvoranschlag m Greek: εκτίμηση (el) (ektímisi) Hungarian: költségbecslés, költségvetés (hu), díjkalkuláció Italian: preventivo (it) m Khmer: អាគណនា (aakea’na’nie) Polish: kosztorys (pl) m Romanian: antecalculație (ro) f, antecalcul (ro) n (rare) Russian: сме́та (ru) f (sméta), расчёт (ru) m (rasčót) Ukrainian: кошто́рис (koštórys)

Verb

estimate (third-person singular simple present estimates, present participle estimating, simple past and past participle estimated)

1. To calculate roughly, often from imperfect data.
   • 1965, Ian Hacking, Logic of Statistical Inference‎:

     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:

     Higher real prices for durables are estimated to have reduced their consumption per capita by 1.09% in 1930, […]

2. 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 933799310:

     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

• appraise
• assessment

Derived terms

• estimable
• underestimate
• overestimate
• estimation

Translations

to calculate roughly

Armenian: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: оценявам (bg) (ocenjavam), пресмятам (bg) (presmjatam) Chinese: Mandarin: 估計／估计 (zh) (gūjì), 預估／预估 (zh) (yùgū), 預計／预计 (zh) (yùjì), 估算 (zh) (gūsuàn) Czech: odhadnout (cs) Danish: estimere Dutch: schatten (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: arvioida (fi) French: estimer (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: abschätzen (de), schätzen (de) Greek: εκτιμώ (el) (ektimó) Italian: stimare (it) Khmer: ធ្វើស្ថិតិ (tvəə stʰe’te’), កាត់ស្មាន (kat smaan), គណនា (km) (kʊənna’nie) Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: Bokmål: anslå, estimere Nynorsk: anslå, estimere Old English: pinsian Persian: تخمین زدن‎ (taxmin zadan) Polish: szacować (pl) Portuguese: estimar (pt) Russian: оце́нивать (ru) impf (océnivatʹ), оцени́ть (ru) pf (ocenítʹ) Slovene: oceniti Spanish: estimar (es) Swedish: uppskatta (sv) Telugu: అంచనా వేయు (añcanā vēyu) Thai: กะ (th) (gà) Ukrainian: оці́нювати (ocínjuvaty) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Welsh: amcangyfrif (cy) m

Further reading

• estimate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “estimate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• estimate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• etatisme, meatiest, seat time, tea-times, teatimes, étatisme

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Italian

Verb

estimate

1. inflection of estimare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Participle

estimate f pl

1. feminine plural of estimato

Anagrams

• mestiate, metatesi