conjecture
kun-JEK-chernounMeaning a guess made without enough proof
Memory hook CON-JECT: THROW the clues TOGETHER. Ada throws three clues together, a tipped vase, a paw print and a feather, and makes a guess: the cat chased a bird! Her conjecture may be wrong.
Whether the old map leads to anything at all is pure conjecture.
In context With no fossils of its skin to study, the scientists could offer only conjecture about the creature’s color; their best guess was a dull green.
Similar guess, speculation, hunch, surmise
Opposite fact, proof, certainty
From Latin conjectura, from conicere, “to throw together”: com (together) + jacere (to throw).