as in guessing
to form an opinion from little or no evidence
we surmised that she had purchased the apple pie since there was a bakery box on the kitchen counter
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surmising
Verb
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Frey keeps hitters guessing because of his rare ability to throw five different pitches for strikes.—
Paul Johnson,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Apr. 2026 -
Forty-eight hours before Pearlman was guessing the name of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s unborn daughter, back on Hollywood Boulevard, Kimmel downshifted from Donald to Melania.—
Tony Maglio,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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With a razor-thin majority, the Speaker can afford to lose only two GOP votes on any party-line bill, assuming that all members are present and Democrats are united in opposition.—
Mike Lillis,
The Hill,
28 Apr. 2026
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Providers also can fall victim to inadvertent bias, assuming a young, otherwise healthy patient must be dealing with something other than shingles.—
Alyssa Sparacino,
Glamour,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Even supposing the pledges in the 1990s documents amounted to a crime, the legal deadline for bringing mortgage fraud charges has expired.—
Aysha Bagchi,
USA Today,
8 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Invitees were hoping and suspecting McCartney might pop in for a wave or a comment before or after the listening session.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
17 Apr. 2026
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Surely seventh graders are capable of understanding that people need to get along with one another, rather than living in a constant state of alarm, suspecting that others mean us harm.—
Judith Martin,
Dallas Morning News,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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One fan account called @beyscatalog on X alleged that the singer's next album will be announced in connection to the Met Gala, speculating that a lead single release could be scheduled for next month and a full album released this summer.—
Caché McClay,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2026
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People started speculating that the two rekindled their romance, after she was spotted in the stands at one of his races in May 2025.—
Skyler Caruso,
PEOPLE,
29 Apr. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Surmising.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surmising. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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