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Glite Dictionary
🧮 To use numbers 🔮 To predict 🎯 Carefully planned 🤔 To suppose
to calculate

to calculate

64 3.4
To figure out what will happen using information you have
  • verb
  • /ˈkælkjʊˌleɪt/
translation icon : estimar
  • I calculate people's insurance rates based on their risk profile.
  • calculate the risks
  • calculate the costs
  • calculate estimates

So I think if anything, I've learned just to not try and calculate.

Examples

  • So the way I calculated it is we have $2,000 right now.

    Money Fight (2021)

  • I could calculate your chances of survival, but you won't like it.

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

  • But, I mean, we can calculate it from there.

    F1 (2025)

  • You can really calculate something like that?

    The Kate Logan Affair (2010)

  • Did you calculate the risk?

    Stalag 17 (1953)

  • Then they check your family tree and calculate future earnings potential.

    American Pie Presents: Beta House (2007)

  • We are calculating what that will do to our fuel reserves.

    Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

  • The averages of the responses were calculated for each statement and each group for comparison.

    Academic text (1996)

  • So survey staffers turn to the database to calculate intakes of individual nutrients for each person queried.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Using the data from last year's sales, we can calculate the expected growth for this quarter.

Synonyms

to determine
vsto calculate
781 2.3

To find out a fact by checking or measuring

focuses on prior reasoning to judge or predict rather than discovering facts later
to work out
vsto calculate
122 2.8

To calculate a number or total from given facts

uses reasoning to judge or predict in advance rather than just compute results
to anticipate
vsto calculate
109 3.2

To expect that something will happen

uses reasoning to judge or predict in advance with formal calculation not only expectation
to foresee
vsto calculate
77 3.9

To know or expect something before it happens

is about reasoning to judge or predict ahead rather than mere expectation
to do the math
vsto calculate
  • US
71 4.4

Calculate the numbers to see if something is worth it

applies reasoning to judge or predict generally rather than only cost analysis
to forecast
vsto calculate
54 2.5

To say what will probably happen using information, for example about weather or business

is broader reasoning to judge or predict, not limited to future trend prediction
to extrapolate
vsto calculate
44 8.5

To use known information to guess what will be true in new situations

uses reasoning to judge or predict in advance rather than only by projection
to guesstimate
vsto calculate
  • Informal
3 6.5

To make a rough guess using a quick calculation when you lack exact information

relies on reasoning to judge or predict in advance with more precision

How Certain

certainty
  • Literature
202 3.4
to calculate
64 3.4
to expect
∞ 1.0
to suppose
∞ 2.7
guess
768 1.0

Surface Forms

calculate infinitive
calculated past
calculated past participle
calculating present participle
calculates third person singular

Morphology

calculate = calcul + ate

The sense 'judge or predict' is a metaphorical extension of the basic 'determine' meaning; the morphological shape (calcul- + -ate) signals a verb but the root is not a familiar standalone word to learners.

Etymology

Calculate comes from the Latin calculus 'small stone' used for counting, and counting was how people made careful plans. So to calculate in this sense is to use facts and numbers to judge or predict what will happen.