calculate
English
Etymology
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.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkælkjʊleɪt/, /ˈkælkjəleɪt/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: cal‧cu‧late
Verb
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, dialectal) 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.
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- 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.
- William Shakespeare
- A cunning man did calculate my birth.
- to calculate or cast one's nativity
- William Shakespeare
- To adjust for purpose; to adapt by forethought or calculation; to fit or prepare by the adaptation of means to an end.
- Archbishop Tillotson
- [Religion] is […] calculated for our benefit.
- to calculate a system of laws for the government and protection of a free people
- Archbishop Tillotson
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
(transitive) to determine value
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(intransitive) determine values or solutions
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(intransitive) plan
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Further reading
- calculate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- calculate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- “calculate” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
Latin
Verb
calculāte
- second-person plural present active imperative of calculō
- "calculate ye, compute ye"
- (figuratively) "consider ye as, esteem ye"
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