1 a judgement that you make without having the exact details or figures about the size, amount, cost, etc. of sth:
I can give you a rough estimate of the amount of wood you will need. * a ballpark estimate (= an approximate estimate) * official government estimates of traffic growth over the next decade * At least 5000 people were killed, and that's a conservative estimate (= the real figure will be higher).
2 a statement of how much a piece of work will probably cost:
We got estimates from three firms and accepted the lowest.
verb [oftenpassive] ~ sth (at sth) to form an idea of the cost, size, value etc. of sth, but without calculating it exactly: [VN] The satellite will cost an estimated ｣400 million. * Police estimate the crowd at 30000. * [VNtoinf] The deal is estimated to be worth around $1.5 million. * [V(that)] We estimated (that) it would cost about ｣5000. * [VN(that)] It is estimated (that) the project will last four years. * [Vwh-] It is hard to estimate how many children suffer from dyslexia.
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