best guess
Likeliest answer offered
A best guess is an estimate made with incomplete information—the most reasonable answer you can offer when certainty isn't possible.
It acknowledges uncertainty while still committing to a position: My best guess is we'll arrive around noon.
The phrase often appears when someone is pressed for an answer they can't fully support: If I had to give you my best guess, I'd say the project will take six months.
- estimateInformed guess at quantity
- rough estimateImprecise preliminary calculation
- hunchUnproven inner sense
- approximationNear but inexact value
- intuitionInstinctive immediate understanding
ballpark · ballpark figure · speculation · gut feeling · gut instinct · conjecture · rough idea · stab · hypothesis · assumption · guesstimate · prediction · inference · surmise · wager · calculation · instinct · feeling
- estimatesestimate, estimation, ballpark, ballpark estimate, rough estimate
- guessesconjecture, supposition, speculation, surmise, guesstimate
- mental shortcutsmental shortcut, rule of thumb, hunch, gut feeling, guesstimate
- Assumptionsfalse assumption, stereotypes, generalizations, biases, prejudices
- judgment callsjudgment, verdict, ruling, determination, close call
- hypotheticalshypothesis, hypothetical, what-if, what if, conjecture
best guesscertainty
Total absence of doubt
hard evidence · scientific consensus · common knowledge · self-evident truth · axiom
best guesswild guess
Uninformed speculation attempt
shot in the dark · random guess · blind guess · stab in the dark · uneducated guess
best, guess, better, betterment, guessed, guessing, guesser, guesswork