second guess

[rainous]

Hi,

I am having hard time grasping the meaning of " to second guess".

How does it differ from simple "guess" and could you give me some examples

of how "second guess" is used in expressions?

Thanks

[SoothingDave]

second-guess - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

To me it primarily means to question a decision that has already been made. You can second guess someone else, like "After that horrible game, everyone is second guessing the coach's decision to start Johnson instead of Smith."

Or you can second guess yourself, like "Now that I've bought the pool table I'm starting to second guess whether the room is too small for it."

[rainous]

So, if I understood you right, when I second-guess myself, it means I am having reservations about the decision I have already made?

The first time I heard that word being spoken was when I was watching a show on TV, where a dance trainer was instructing students and he was watching one of them burst out dancing and then stopped the student as if he was not happy with the way the student executed each move and said:

"It looks like you are almost second guessing yourself. "

Can I take that as " You are not confident about yourself or (more specifically) about your next move" or something close to that?

[SoothingDave]

Yes.