For ionising radiation, absorbed dose is defined as the energy imparted per unit mass of an infinitesimal volume. While straightforward to define, absorbed dose is somewhat more difficult to measure or infer. There is growing attention to the uncertainty in values of absorbed dose and its derivative quantities such as equivalent dose and effective dose. The process of arriving at a value of dose to record is variously called measuring a dose, computing a dose, calculating a dose, assessing a dose, evaluating a dose, estimating a dose, reconstructing a dose, inferring a dose, or doing dosimetry. All values for the quantity dose are based on some amount of inference, but the effect of the inference on uncertainty may range from trivial to enormous. The more inferential steps required to arrive at a dose value, the greater the uncertainty associated with the result. It is suggested here that the word dosimetry is being stretched too far when it is applied to inferential processes whose total uncertainty is little affected by measurement uncertainty, but is dominated by uncertainty in models, their parameters, and imputed data that have little or no basis in measurement.