extrapolate

English

WOTD – 22 October 2008

Etymology

From extra- + (inter)polate.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ɛkˈstɹæp.əˌleɪt/, /ɪk-/
  • (file)
  • (file)

Verb

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, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →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

Translations

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