Other forms: conjectures
A conjecture is a guess formed on incomplete evidence. Pure conjecture, a reasonable conjecture, mere conjecture.
Calling something conjecture says it is not established, which is why the word appears in courts and inquiries as a way of dismissing an argument. In mathematics a conjecture is a precise statement believed true but not proved, and some have stood for centuries — Goldbach's has resisted since 1742. Note conjectural; and that the Latin means throwing things together.
1nounconjectureA guess formed on incomplete evidence.
“Without any evidence, what happened to the ship remains a matter of conjecture.”
2nounmathematicalA mathematical statement believed true but unproved.
“The conjecture has stood for roughly three hundred years.”
conjecture is a guess.
conJECTURE → a GESTURE at the answer
A guess is only a gesture towards the answer, not the answer.
hooks ontogesture
Latin coniectura comes from conicere, to throw together — con plus iacere, to throw. Project, eject and subject come from the same throwing.
Proto-Indo-European
*(H)yeh₁-
Latin
coniectūra — a guess
English, today
conjecture
Built from
From Old French -, from Latin coniectūra (“a guess”), from coniectus, perfect passive participle of cōniciō (“throw or cast together; guess”), from con- (“together”) + iaciō (“throw, hurl”); see jet. Compare adjective, eject, inject, project, reject, subject, object, trajectory, deject, abject, surjection, bijection, interject. Compare typologically прики́дывать (akin to кида́ть).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA