calculate
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Latin calculātus, perfect passive participle of calculō (“I reckon, originally by means of pebbles”), from calculus (“a pebble”). Refer to calculus for origin.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
calculate (third-person singular simple present calculates, present participle calculating, simple past and past participle calculated)
- (transitive, mathematics) To determine the value of something or the solution to something by a mathematical process.
- Calculate the square root of 3 to 10 decimal places.
- (intransitive, mathematics) To determine values or solutions by a mathematical process; reckon.
- (intransitive, US, dialect) To plan; to expect; to think.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
- To ascertain or predict by mathematical or astrological computations the time, circumstances, or other conditions of; to forecast or compute the character or consequences of.
- 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:
- A cunning man did calculate my birth.
- to calculate or cast one's nativity
- To adjust for purpose; to adapt by forethought or calculation; to fit or prepare by the adaptation of means to an end.
- a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Advantages of Religion to particular Persons
- [Religion] is […] calculated for our benefit.
- to calculate a system of laws for the government and protection of a free people
- a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Advantages of Religion to particular Persons
- (chess) To imagine sequences of potential moves and responses without actually moving the pieces.
ConjugationEdit
Conjugation of calculate
| infinitive | (to) calculate | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | calculate | calculated | |
| 2nd-person singular | calculate, calculatest* | calculated, calculatedst* | |
| 3rd-person singular | calculates, calculateth* | calculated | |
| plural | calculate | ||
| subjunctive | calculate | ||
| imperative | calculate | — | |
| participles | calculating | calculated | |
SynonymsEdit
- (determine value of or solution to): compute, reckon (old), work out
- (determine values or solutions): compute, reckon (old)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
(transitive) to determine the value or solution of sth.
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(intransitive) to determine values or solutions
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(intransitive) plan
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Further readingEdit
- “calculate” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- “calculate” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “calculate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
LatinEdit
VerbEdit
calculāte
- second-person plural present active imperative of calculō
- "calculate ye, compute ye"
- (figuratively) "consider ye as, esteem ye"
ParticipleEdit
calculāte