All 12 Uses of
conjecture
in
Frankenstein - 1831 version
- But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine.
p. 16.3conjectures = guesses
- This account rather alarmed us, and we continued to search for him until night fell, when Elizabeth conjectured that he might have returned to the house.
p. 74.1conjectured = guessed
- "I know," continued the unhappy victim, "how heavily and fatally this one circumstance weighs against me, but I have no power of explaining it; and when I have expressed my utter ignorance, I am only left to conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been placed in my pocket."
p. 85.5conjecture = guess
- The family, after having been thus occupied for a short time, extinguished their lights and retired, as I conjectured, to rest.
p. 112.9conjectured = guessed (about what had happened)
- I conjectured, therefore, that he found on the paper signs for speech which he understood, and I ardently longed to comprehend these also; but how was that possible when I did not even understand the sounds for which they stood as signs?
p. 116.5conjectured = guessed
- ...I observed the countenance of Felix was melancholy beyond expression; he sighed frequently, and once his father paused in his music, and I conjectured by his manner that he inquired the cause of his son's sorrow.
p. 119.5
- He sat up much longer, conversing with his father, and by the frequent repetition of her name I conjectured that their lovely guest was the subject of their conversation.
p. 120.9
- For some time I was lost in conjecture as to the cause of this, but yesterday an idea struck me, and if it is well founded, I conjure you to avow it.
p. 156.1conjecture = thought (to understand)
- He could not any longer delay his departure; but as his journey to London might be followed, even sooner than he now conjectured, by his longer voyage, he entreated me to bestow as much of my society on him as I could spare.
p. 174.8conjectured = guessed
- But I discovered no trace of him and was beginning to conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the execution of his menaces when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream.
p. 199.1conjecture = guess
- Besides, some months have elapsed since the commission of his crimes, and no one can conjecture to what place he has wandered or what region he may now inhabit.
p. 203.6 *
- He had carried off their store of winter food, and placing it in a sledge, to draw which he had seized on a numerous drove of trained dogs, he had harnessed them, and the same night, to the joy of the horror-struck villagers, had pursued his journey across the sea in a direction that led to no land; and they conjectured that he must speedily be destroyed by the breaking of the ice or frozen by the eternal frosts.
p. 210.1conjectured = guessed
Definition:
a conclusion or opinion based on inconclusive evidence; or the act of forming of such a conclusion or opinion
A conjecture can be widely believed, but the word is also frequently used to imply that evidence is insufficient to support a belief.