ball-park estimate
Educated rough figure
A ball-park estimate is a rough approximation, not meant to be precise: Can you give me a ball-park estimate of what repairs will cost?
The term comes from baseball—a ball park is large enough that being somewhere "in the ball park" means you're in the right general vicinity without being exact.
Also written as one word or without hyphens.
- guesstimateRough, intuitive calculation
- approximationNear but inexact value
- inexactLacking full accuracy
- calculationMathematical problem-solving process
- roughUneven in surface
uncertain · shooting from the hip · margin of error · within reason · educated guess · rule of thumb · range · give or take · more or less · heuristic · evaluation · probability · back-of-the-envelope · quick and dirty · conversational tone · imprecise · napkin math · in the neighborhood