If something is calculated to have a particular effect, it is specially done or arranged in order to have that effect.
Their movements were calculated to terrify landowners into abandoning their holdings.
These tracks were calculated to be controversial and attract attention to the album.
2. adjective
If you say that something is not calculatedto have a particular effect, you mean that it is unlikely to have that effect.
Such a statement was hardly calculated to deter future immigrants.
3. adjective [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
You can describe a clever or dishonest action as calculated when it is very carefully planned or arranged.
Irene's cleaning the floor had been a calculated attempt to cover up her crime.
...a calculated and coherent strategy for winning power.
Synonyms: deliberate, planned, considered, studied More Synonyms of calculated
4. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
If you take a calculated risk, you do something which you think might be successful, although you have fully considered the possible bad consequences of your action.
The President took a calculated political risk in throwing his full support behindthe rebels.
calculated in British English
(ˈkælkjʊˌleɪtɪd)
adjective(usually prenominal)
1.
undertaken after considering the likelihood of success or failure
a calculated risk
2.
deliberately planned; premeditated
a calculated insult
calculated in American English
(ˈkælkjəˌleɪtɪd)
adjective
1.
done by mathematical calculation
2.
undertaken or accepted after the probable results have been estimated
a calculated risk
3.
deliberately planned or intended
calculated cruelty
4.
apt or likely
Derived forms
calculatedly (ˈcalcuˌlatedly)
adverb
Examples of 'calculated' in a sentence
calculated
He glanced at his watch; he had calculated he would be at Willington Hall by ten o'clock.
Lewis, Roy A TROUT IN THE MILK (1991)
It was not a suggestion calculated to please the magistrate.
Lewis, Roy A TROUT IN THE MILK (1991)
He calculated it would strike directly into the heart of Miami.
Armstrong, Campbell MAMBO (1991)
In other languages
calculated
British English: calculated ADJECTIVE
If something is calculated to have a particular effect, it is specially done or arranged in order to have that effect.
Their movements through the region were calculated to terrify landowners into abandoning their holdings.