calculate
[verb]
Synonyms:
- work out, compute, count, determine, enumerate, estimate, figure, reckon
- plan, aim, design, intend

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Contrasted words: conjecture, guess, surmise
Related Words: consider, study, weigh, ascertain, determine, discover, appraise, evaluate, price, value, assess, prize, rate

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English Thesaurus: calculate, work out, figure out, count, total, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

cal‧cu‧late S2 W3 /ˈkælkjəleɪt, ˈkælkjʊleɪt/ verb [transitive]
[Word Family: adjective: calculable ≠ incalculable, calculated, calculating; noun: calculation, calculator; verb: calculate; adverb: calculatedly]
[Date: 1500-1600; Language: Latin; Origin: past participle of calculare, from calculus 'stone used in counting'; ⇒ calculus]

1. to find out how much something will cost, how long something will take etc, by using numbers:
These instruments calculate distances precisely.
calculate how much/how many etc
I’m trying to calculate how much paint we need.
calculate (that)
Sally calculated that she’d have about £100 left.
calculate something on something
Rates are calculated on an hourly basis.

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In everyday English, people usually say that they work something out or, in American English, figure something out, rather than calculate it:
We still haven’t worked out how much it’s all going to cost.

2. to guess something using as many facts as you can find
calculate (that)
Researchers calculated that this group was at a higher risk of heart disease.
calculate how/what/whether etc
It’s difficult to calculate what effect all these changes will have on the company.

3. be calculated to do something to be intended to have a particular effect:
a question calculated to embarrass him

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

calculate
verb
I. work out a number, etc.
ADV. accurately, exactly
PREP. according to The amount is calculated according to the number of years you have paid into the scheme.
at The sum involved was calculated at $82 million.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

calculate
II. guess
ADV. carefully, shrewdly | correctly He correctly calculated that the others would not dare fight back.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

calculate formal to find out an amount, price, or value by adding numbers together:
The students calculated the cost of printing 5000 copies of their book.
work out to calculate something. Work out is less formal than calculate, and is more common in everyday English:
You need to work out how much you will need to borrow.
figure out (also figure American English) informal to calculate an amount:
We still haven't figured out how much it's all going to cost.
the method for figuring welfare payments
count to find out the total number of things or people in a group by looking at each one and adding them all together:
The teacher counted the children as they got on the bus.
total (also total up) to add a number of things together to get a final number:
Once the scores have been totaled, we will announce the winner.
Okay, now let's total up who had the most points.
quantify formal to say how much something costs, how much of it there is, how serious or effective it is etc:
I think it's difficult to quantify the cost at the moment, for a variety of reasons.
How do you quantify the benefits of the treatment?
a reliable method for quantifying the amount of calcium in the blood
assess formal to calculate what the value or cost of something is, or decide how good, bad etc something is:
The value of the paintings was assessed at $20 million.
They are still assessing the damage.
We need to have a better way of assessing students' progress.
estimate to guess an amount, price, or number as exactly as you can, based on the knowledge you have:
The police department estimates that the number of violent crimes will decrease by 2%.
put a figure on something to say what you think the exact total amount or value of something is, especially when it is a lot:
It's hard to put a figure on it, but the final cost is likely to be over £225 million.
The company has refused to put a figure on its losses.
project to calculate what an amount will be in the future, using the information you have now:
The company projects sales of $4 million this year.
a rough count (=not exact)
I made a rough count of the houses in the street.
a quick count
According to my quick count, there were 15.
a head count (=of how many people are present)
Make sure you do a head count before the children get back on the bus.
a word/page count (=of how many words or pages there are)
Your computer can do an automatic word count.
a traffic count (=of how many vehicles pass through a place)
We went to the main road at 9 am to begin our traffic count.
do/make a count
I looked at the report and did a quick page count.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

calculate formal to find out an amount, price, or value by adding numbers together:
The students calculated the cost of printing 5000 copies of their book.
work out to calculate something. Work out is less formal than calculate, and is more common in everyday English:
You need to work out how much you will need to borrow.
figure out (also figure American English) informal to calculate an amount:
We still haven't figured out how much it's all going to cost.
the method for figuring welfare payments
count to find out the total number of things or people in a group by looking at each one and adding them all together:
The teacher counted the children as they got on the bus.
total (also total up) to add a number of things together to get a final number:
Once the scores have been totaled, we will announce the winner.
Okay, now let's total up who had the most points.
quantify formal to say how much something costs, how much of it there is, how serious or effective it is etc:
I think it's difficult to quantify the cost at the moment, for a variety of reasons.
How do you quantify the benefits of the treatment?
a reliable method for quantifying the amount of calcium in the blood
assess formal to calculate what the value or cost of something is, or decide how good, bad etc something is:
The value of the paintings was assessed at $20 million.
They are still assessing the damage.
We need to have a better way of assessing students' progress.
estimate to guess an amount, price, or number as exactly as you can, based on the knowledge you have:
The police department estimates that the number of violent crimes will decrease by 2%.
put a figure on something to say what you think the exact total amount or value of something is, especially when it is a lot:
It's hard to put a figure on it, but the final cost is likely to be over £225 million.
The company has refused to put a figure on its losses.
project to calculate what an amount will be in the future, using the information you have now:
The company projects sales of $4 million this year.
add to put two or more numbers together to find the total:
If you add 7 and 5, you get 12.
subtract/take away to reduce one number by another number. take something away sounds more informal than subtract:
If you subtract 12 from 15, you get 3.
multiply to add a number to itself a particular number of times:
4 multiplied by 10 is 40.
divide to calculate how many times one number contains another number:
10 divided by 2 equals 5.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲