conjecture
n. C / Un. an opinion or idea that is based on guessing rather than on facts. You use this when you think something is true but you do not have proof yet.
n. an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information. Often used in academic contexts to describe a hypothesis that has not yet been rigorously tested.
His theory is based on conjecture rather than hard evidence.
The news report was full of conjecture about the cause of the accident before the official investigation began.
In the absence of historical records, any attempt to reconstruct the daily lives of these ancient people remains a matter of scholarly conjecture.
From Old French, from Latin coniectūra (“a guess”), from coniectus, perfect passive participle of cōniciō (“throw or cast together; guess”), from con- (“together”) + iaciō (“throw, hurl”); see jet. Compare adjective, eject, inject, project, reject, subject, object, trajectory, deject, abject, surjection, bijection, interject. Compare typologically Russian прики́дывать (prikídyvatʹ) (akin to кида́ть (kidátʹ)).
Uncountable when referring to the act of guessing; countable when referring to a specific guess or theory.