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

to calculate

36 7.5
To think that something is likely to happen
  • verb
  • /ˈkælkjʊˌleɪt/
  • Informal
translation icon : suponer
  • And maybe they believe it because they had a dream that they did it, or maybe they believe it because they calculated, you know, that if this and if that, then I could do it.

And maybe they believe it because they had a dream that they did it, or maybe they believe it because they calculated, you know, that if this and if that, then I could do it.

Examples

  • By extrapolating from both, I calculate the creature's seven feet tall.

    Werewolf (1997)

  • You might have calculated your trajectory wrong due to the incoming asteroids.

    Ender's Game (2013)

  • Do not tell me you can also calculate my tea leaves?

    Don't Let Him In (2011)

  • Who does he calculate he is?

    Tron (1982)

  • Yet I no longer travel, nor envy, nor calculate the way I did fifteen years ago.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • I calculate the odds of him attempting to kill us at 91.6%.

    Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

  • They calculate it'll take at least 3 months before I can start to move again.

    Camp Daze (2005)

  • Just past the next curve, she calculated, was the Ellis Brothers' filling station.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • I am taking a calculated risk, so perhaps you can tell by my lack of weapons and my non-threatening tone... that we mean you no harm.

    Heartbeeps (1981)

  • I calculate that there's a 70% chance it will rain tomorrow.

Synonyms

to think
vsto calculate
∞ 1.0

To have an opinion or guess about something

focuses specifically on judging likelihood rather than general thoughts
to guess
vsto calculate
∞ 1.0

To think something is likely without being sure

means judging something likely while possibly having more basis
to figure
vsto calculate
∞ 3.8

To think about something to find an answer

leans more on expecting probability than numeric computation
to estimate
vsto calculate
765 2.8

To make a rough calculation of how much or how many something is

is about judging likelihood, not measuring quantities or amounts
to reckon
vsto calculate
  • UK
185 3.4

To think or believe something is true

is used to state expected probability rather than a firm fact
to forecast
vsto calculate
54 2.5

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

expresses expectation but focuses on future prediction rather than belief
to hypothecate
vsto calculate
  • Formal
9.9

Suggest a possible explanation without strong evidence

is a common belief or expectation rather than a tentative conjecture

Antonyms

to disbelieve
14 4.7

To not accept that something is true

How Certain

to believe
∞ 1.0
to calculate
  • Informal
36 7.5
to expect
∞ 1.0
to suppose
∞ 2.7

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

calculate = calcul + ate

This chiefly dialectal sense 'to suppose' is a further pragmatic extension of 'calculate' and may be unexpected to learners, though it still derives from the same root and verb-forming pattern.

Etymology

Calculate comes from the idea of counting with small stones (calculus 'small stone') and then making a choice. A helpful way to remember the US use 'I calculate' meaning 'I think' is to picture someone quietly counting the chances and then guessing the most likely result.