conjectural

«conjectural» in Mova's school dictionary: Based on a guess or an idea that has not been proved, not… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (conjectural)

meaning for a pupil

(formal) Based on a guess or an idea that has not been proved, not on firm facts: «The date of the old map is conjectural». tree →

sense in the lessons

In history, science and maths texts, «conjectural» warns the reader that something is a guess: the colour of dinosaurs or the look of an ancient building may be conjectural. In maths, a conjecture is a statement that people think is true but nobody has proved yet (like the famous Goldbach conjecture). Phrases: «purely conjectural», «highly conjectural».

examples

• The colours of the dinosaur in the picture are conjectural. tree →
• Any answer about life on other planets is still conjectural. tree →
• The museum said the drawing of the castle was partly conjectural. tree →
• His story about the treasure was purely conjectural. tree →
• Scientists test conjectural ideas with experiments. tree →
• The age of the cave paintings was once conjectural, but now it has been measured. tree →

note

Formal word. It comes from «conjecture» (a guess; to guess). Said «kun-JEK-cher-ul». In maths, «conjectural» means «not proved yet», which is different from «false»: a conjecture may turn out true or false. Similar words: speculative, hypothetical, unproven.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «conjectural» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.