cal ‧ cu ‧ late S2 W3 /ˈkælkjəleɪt, ˈkælkjʊleɪt/ BrE AmE 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:
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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How do you quantify the benefits of the treatment?
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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.
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They are still assessing the damage.
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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.
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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.
■ different ways of calculating
▪ 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.
calculate on something phrasal verb
if you calculate on something, you are depending on it for your plans to succeed:
We’re calculating on an early start.
calculate on somebody/something doing something
Ken hadn’t calculated on Polson refusing his offer.