Guesswork
noun
The act of trying to find out or predict something when you don't have enough information.
Without the necessary data, their conclusions are just guesswork.
Often appears as...
- pure guesswork
- educated guesswork
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
The act of trying to find out or predict something when you don't have enough information.
Without the necessary data, their conclusions are just guesswork.
Often appears as...
- pure guesswork
- educated guesswork
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Lack of Certainty
Used when there is uncertainty and not enough facts to predict with confidence.
I didn't see who took it, so naming a suspect would be guesswork.
Pro Tip 2/3Informed Versus Pure
Distinguish between 'educated guesswork', based on some knowledge, and 'pure guesswork', based on none.
Choosing the answer was educated guesswork, as I recalled some of the lesson.
Pro Tip 3/3Negative Connotation
'Guesswork' often implies a lack of professionalism or thoroughness in the task.
They frowned upon the guesswork in the report, preferring clear evidence.
Pro Tip 1/3Lack of Certainty
Used when there is uncertainty and not enough facts to predict with confidence.
I didn't see who took it, so naming a suspect would be guesswork.
Pro Tip 2/3Informed Versus Pure
Distinguish between 'educated guesswork', based on some knowledge, and 'pure guesswork', based on none.
Choosing the answer was educated guesswork, as I recalled some of the lesson.
Pro Tip 3/3Negative Connotation
'Guesswork' often implies a lack of professionalism or thoroughness in the task.
They frowned upon the guesswork in the report, preferring clear evidence.
Pro Tip 1/3Lack of Certainty
Used when there is uncertainty and not enough facts to predict with confidence.
I didn't see who took it, so naming a suspect would be guesswork.
Pro Tip 2/3Informed Versus Pure
Distinguish between 'educated guesswork', based on some knowledge, and 'pure guesswork', based on none.
Choosing the answer was educated guesswork, as I recalled some of the lesson.
Pro Tip 3/3Negative Connotation
'Guesswork' often implies a lack of professionalism or thoroughness in the task.
They frowned upon the guesswork in the report, preferring clear evidence.
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Video examples
Extreme Dinosaurs PIPE...
it was muzzle down most of the time it had hundreds of teeth in its jaws and one sharp edge like a scissors at the front of its jaws were operating now that's the first stage of reconstruction and this is painting we are good in good stead with Dinosaurs when we're doing reconstruction a lot of people think that it's just all guesswork I mean after all there's no skin preserved
Video examples
Filming Antarctica's...
just like soldering all night and looking at his diagram of you know and and i was standing over him going and finished yet have you finisher and so he was just working all night to create this time-lapse kit and link it up and to see whether it was going to work it was all guesswork as to what might happen
Video examples
Your brain hallucinates...
There's no lights inside the skull. There's no sound either. All you've got to go on is streams of electrical impulses which are only indirectly related to things in the world, whatever they may be. So perception -- figuring out what's there -- has to be a process of informed guesswork
Video examples
Welcome to the internet...
long waiting times and which parts of the city are completely empty these are now the kinds of questions you can start answering by throwing more computing power in the cloud and taking the guesswork out crucial questions especially as cities want to be more
Video examples
Billy Collins: Two poems...
that have come out lately contemplating or speculating on the cognition and emotional life of dogs. Do they think, do they feel and, if so, how? So this afternoon, in my limited time, I wanted to take the guesswork out of a lot of that
Video examples
Esther Duflo: Social...
and drugs that don't work. And you can do the same randomized, controlled trial for social policy. You can put social innovation to the same rigorous, scientific tests that we use for drugs. And in this way, you can take the guesswork
Video examples
Texting that saves lives...
really comfortable just helping that girl with counseling and referrals I want to prevent this from happening so think about a comp there's something in New York City that the police did it used to be just guesswork police work
Video examples
David Deutsch: A new way...
Scientific knowledge isn't derived from anything. Like all knowledge, it's conjectural, guesswork, tested by observation, not derived from it. So, were testable conjectures the great innovation
Video examples
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita...
In order to predict effectively, we need to use science. And the reason that we need to use science is because then we can reproduce what we're doing; it's not just wisdom or guesswork.
Video examples
Karen Armstrong: 2008...
self-indulgent guesswork about matters that nobody can be certain of one way or the other, but which makes people quarrelsome and stupidly sectarian.
Video examples
Extreme Dinosaurs PIPE...
it was muzzle down most of the time it had hundreds of teeth in its jaws and one sharp edge like a scissors at the front of its jaws were operating now that's the first stage of reconstruction and this is painting we are good in good stead with Dinosaurs when we're doing reconstruction a lot of people think that it's just all guesswork I mean after all there's no skin preserved
Video examples
Filming Antarctica's...
just like soldering all night and looking at his diagram of you know and and i was standing over him going and finished yet have you finisher and so he was just working all night to create this time-lapse kit and link it up and to see whether it was going to work it was all guesswork as to what might happen
Video examples
Your brain hallucinates...
There's no lights inside the skull. There's no sound either. All you've got to go on is streams of electrical impulses which are only indirectly related to things in the world, whatever they may be. So perception -- figuring out what's there -- has to be a process of informed guesswork
Video examples
Welcome to the internet...
long waiting times and which parts of the city are completely empty these are now the kinds of questions you can start answering by throwing more computing power in the cloud and taking the guesswork out crucial questions especially as cities want to be more
Video examples
Billy Collins: Two poems...
that have come out lately contemplating or speculating on the cognition and emotional life of dogs. Do they think, do they feel and, if so, how? So this afternoon, in my limited time, I wanted to take the guesswork out of a lot of that
Video examples
Esther Duflo: Social...
and drugs that don't work. And you can do the same randomized, controlled trial for social policy. You can put social innovation to the same rigorous, scientific tests that we use for drugs. And in this way, you can take the guesswork
Video examples
Texting that saves lives...
really comfortable just helping that girl with counseling and referrals I want to prevent this from happening so think about a comp there's something in New York City that the police did it used to be just guesswork police work
Video examples
David Deutsch: A new way...
Scientific knowledge isn't derived from anything. Like all knowledge, it's conjectural, guesswork, tested by observation, not derived from it. So, were testable conjectures the great innovation
Video examples
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita...
In order to predict effectively, we need to use science. And the reason that we need to use science is because then we can reproduce what we're doing; it's not just wisdom or guesswork.
Video examples
Karen Armstrong: 2008...
self-indulgent guesswork about matters that nobody can be certain of one way or the other, but which makes people quarrelsome and stupidly sectarian.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Jason Schreier
One of the successes of Kickstarter is that it takes the guesswork out of greenlighting games. Publishers of larger games have to carefully choose which titles they publish, lest they lose a bunch of money on a quirky game that doesn't sell. Kickstarter is all reward, no risk, since nobody has to pay if the project isn't completely funded.
Quote examples
Guy Gavriel Kay
Canadian Author
When we work with history, to a very great degree we are all guessing. But by using motifs of time and history in a fantasy setting, we are acknowledging that this educated guesswork, invention, fantasy underlie our treatment of the past and its peoples - and we are not claiming a right to do with them as we will.
Quote examples
Yusef Komunyakaa
American Poet
My great-grandfather Melvin had been a carpenter - so was my father - and they taught me the value of tools: saws, hammers, chisels, files and rulers. It all dealt with conciseness and precision. It eliminated guesswork. One has to know his tools, so he doesn't work against himself.
Quote examples
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
American Educator
In order to predict effectively, we need to use science. And the reason that we need to use science is because then we can reproduce what we're doing; it's not just wisdom or guesswork. And if we can predict, then we can engineer the future.
Quote examples
Bill James
American Writer
The fact is that everybody around a college basketball game - the coaches, the announcers, even the referees at a lower level - calculates when the game is really over. They calculate it with intuition and guesswork.
Quote examples
Andy Behrman
American Writer
I think, when it comes to psychiatry, that a lot of people are overmedicated. I think when it comes to ECT a lot of people go through too much. I think there's a lot of guesswork in psychiatry.
Quote examples
Terry McMillan
American Author
It takes me forever to say my prayers these days, but I don't care, because this time around, I want to make sure God doesn't have to do any guesswork.
Quote examples
Walter Lang
American Director
The Moon and Mars were the two most likely candidates for life in the solar system; what exists beyond our solar system is mere guesswork.
Quote examples
Rumaan Alam
American Author
Children's literature - the product of adult guesswork - often fails to account for its audience's slippery grasp on the world.
Quote examples
G. Willow Wilson
American Writer
Anytime you're writing stories about a group of people with whom you have limited experience, there's a lot of guesswork.
Quote examples
Jason Schreier
One of the successes of Kickstarter is that it takes the guesswork out of greenlighting games. Publishers of larger games have to carefully choose which titles they publish, lest they lose a bunch of money on a quirky game that doesn't sell. Kickstarter is all reward, no risk, since nobody has to pay if the project isn't completely funded.
Quote examples
Guy Gavriel Kay
Canadian Author
When we work with history, to a very great degree we are all guessing. But by using motifs of time and history in a fantasy setting, we are acknowledging that this educated guesswork, invention, fantasy underlie our treatment of the past and its peoples - and we are not claiming a right to do with them as we will.
Quote examples
Yusef Komunyakaa
American Poet
My great-grandfather Melvin had been a carpenter - so was my father - and they taught me the value of tools: saws, hammers, chisels, files and rulers. It all dealt with conciseness and precision. It eliminated guesswork. One has to know his tools, so he doesn't work against himself.
Quote examples
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
American Educator
In order to predict effectively, we need to use science. And the reason that we need to use science is because then we can reproduce what we're doing; it's not just wisdom or guesswork. And if we can predict, then we can engineer the future.
Quote examples
Bill James
American Writer
The fact is that everybody around a college basketball game - the coaches, the announcers, even the referees at a lower level - calculates when the game is really over. They calculate it with intuition and guesswork.
Quote examples
Andy Behrman
American Writer
I think, when it comes to psychiatry, that a lot of people are overmedicated. I think when it comes to ECT a lot of people go through too much. I think there's a lot of guesswork in psychiatry.
Quote examples
Terry McMillan
American Author
It takes me forever to say my prayers these days, but I don't care, because this time around, I want to make sure God doesn't have to do any guesswork.
Quote examples
Walter Lang
American Director
The Moon and Mars were the two most likely candidates for life in the solar system; what exists beyond our solar system is mere guesswork.
Quote examples
Rumaan Alam
American Author
Children's literature - the product of adult guesswork - often fails to account for its audience's slippery grasp on the world.
Quote examples
G. Willow Wilson
American Writer
Anytime you're writing stories about a group of people with whom you have limited experience, there's a lot of guesswork.
Example 1 of 10
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