Wiktionary

extrapolate

English

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WOTD – 22 October 2008

Etymology

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From extra- +‎ (inter)polate.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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extrapolate (third-person singular simple present extrapolates, present participle extrapolating, simple past and past participle extrapolated)

  1. (transitive) To infer by extending known information.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
      With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]
  2. (transitive, mathematics) To estimate the value of a variable outside a known range from values within that range by assuming that the estimated value follows logically from the known ones

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Spanish

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Verb

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extrapolate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of extrapolar combined with te
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