Estimated

How to spell estimated

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce estimated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does estimated mean?

1. adjectiveCalculated or judged approximately rather than measured exactly.
2. verbPast tense of estimate: roughly calculated or judged a value or quantity.

Estimated in a sentence

• adjective

  The estimated cost of the renovation came to nine thousand pounds.

• verb

  The surveyor estimated the height of the building from the pavement.

• adjective

  The report listed the estimated population of the region for the coming decade.

• verb

  The accountant estimated the annual savings at around four percent.

Where does estimated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb aestimare, which meant 'to value, to appraise, or to set a price on something'. Roman usage covered both literal valuation, as in pricing goods, and figurative judgement, as in rating a person's worth. The verb passed into English in the sixteenth century, with the participle and adjective form 'estimated' settling into the sense of a careful but approximate reckoning. The very same Latin root gives us 'esteem', which kept the older flavour of holding someone in high regard, and 'aim', which arrived by a more worn-down French route. Because the middle vowel is an unstressed schwa, writers sometimes hesitate over the 'i' in the second syllable, even though the spelling has stayed remarkably steady.

How the word is built

• estim- (from Latin aestimare: to value, appraise)
• -ate (verb-forming)
• -ed (past tense / participle)