1. A measurement or a statement about the value of some quantity that is known, believed, or suspected to incorporate some degree of error. 2. The result of applying any estimator to a random sample of data. It is not a random variable but a realization of one, a fixed quantity, and it has no variance although commonly it also furnishes an e. of what the variance of the estimator is. (Not to be confused with an estimator, which is a prescription for obtaining an e..) [L. aestimo, pp. aestimatum, to appraise]
- Kaplan-Meier e. nonparametric method of compiling life tables or survival tables that combines calculated probabilities of survival with estimates to allow for censored (missing) observations; used mainly in survival studies of cancer and similar long-term diseases.
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es·ti·mate (esґtĭ-mət) [L. aestimare to value, to estimate] 1. a rough calculation or one based on incomplete data. 2. a statistic used to characterize the value of a population parameter. Called also estimator.Medical dictionary. 2011.