back-of-the-envelope
/ˌbæk‿əv ði ˈɛnvəˌloʊp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.86 in modern English
36
Scrabble Score
17
Letters
3
Syllables
13
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Especially of a calculation, estimation, or other reasoning, or an idea: approximate, rough, simplified.
Informal
Example Sentences
- "We can do some back-of-the-envelope calculations before all the facts come in."
- "[T]he original estimates are frequently back-of-the-envelope-type estimates made internally without detailed engineering studies, if you go all the way back to Day 1."
- "We joke about having to make back-of-the-envelope calculations, while in the university environment we might spend 2 or 3 weeks computerizing the calculations. I might say, however, that making back-of-the-envelope calculations and later checking them out on computers has impressed me that we have developed a considerable skill in back-of-the-envelope calculations."
- "On one defense item, somebody kept referring to it as a back-of-an-envelope cost estimate. Do you have a back-of-an-envelope cost estimate?"
- "Apart from those manuscripts which were intended as more or less complete, self-contained works, [William] Petty left a huge body of papers, much of which amounts to fragments and hastily written private notes – many the seventeenth-century equipvament of back-of-the-envelope calculations and comments. These papers constitute a further testament to his sustained investigation of economic and political subjects."
- "The reader will not need to be warned that the calculations involved are of the back of an envelope type and statements of the form ‘a equals b’ should be read ‘a equals b approximately’ or even ‘with a bit of luck, a and b will be of the same order of magnitude’."
Etymology
A reference to a calculation or an idea that occurs to one being jotted down on an available scrap of paper, such as the back of an envelope.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌbæk‿əv ði ˈɛnvəˌloʊp/
- British English: /ˌbæk‿əv ðiː ˈɛnvələʊp/