Definition of CONJECTURE (original) (raw)

Examples of conjecture in a Sentence

Noun

Whether Columbus brought syphilis to the New World—or to the Old World—has been the subject of conjecture for at least 500 years. —Carl Zimmer, Science, 11 May 2001 … their voices rose in a chorus of conjecture and alarm, repeating the selfsame remark: "What is she going to do? I mean, is Betty going to faint?" —Edna O'Brien, New Yorker, 1 Jan. 1990 The reason why the French with superior man-power and American resources were doing so poorly was not beyond all conjecture. —Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly, 1984 Peculiar features of early maps, which may have been nothing but a draftsman's whimsy, have inspired pages of vain conjecture. —Samuel Eliot Morison, The European Discovery of America, 1971

The biography includes conjectures about the writer's earliest ambitions. a conjecture about the extent of the injury Most of the book is conjecture, not fact. Verb

It is fashionable now to conjecture that the Big Bang was caused by a random quantum fluctuation in a vacuum devoid of space and time. —Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, November/December 1998 … their traces left for future archaeologists to rediscover and perhaps to wonder or conjecture over. —Jane Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations, 1984 I am anxious to conjecture beforehand what may be expected from the sowing turneps [sic] in jaded ground, how much from the acre, & how large they will be? —Thomas Jefferson, letter, 29 Dec. 1794

Some have conjectured that the distant planet could sustain life. We only conjecture about his motives.

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Because certain members portrayed didn’t leave expansive journals, Fehrman sometimes has to rely on conjecture or push his imaginative reconstruction too far. —The Week Us, TheWeek, 6 May 2026 So, how do Peñarrubia and Nadler know this isn't just some clever mathematical conjecture? —Paul Sutter, Space.com, 20 Apr. 2026

Mathematicians are still working out the consequences of the theorem, which was originally conjectured by Louis Mordell in 1922. —Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 19 Mar. 2026 The look is cool, but since there’s nothing to listen or connect it to, its significance is left to conjecture. —Justin Davidson, Curbed, 26 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for conjecture