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speculate

verb

spec·​u·​late ˈspe-kyə-ˌlāt How to pronounce speculate (audio)
speculated; speculating

intransitive verb

1
a
: to meditate on or ponder a subject : reflect
b
: to review something idly or casually and often inconclusively
2
: to assume a business risk in hope of gain
especially : to make a relatively risky investment in something (such as stocks or real estate) in the hope of making a large short-term profit from market fluctuations

transitive verb

1
: to take to be true on the basis of insufficient evidence : theorize
2
: to be curious or doubtful about : wonder
speculates whether it will rain all vacation

Did you know?

Speculate was adopted into English in the late 16th century from Latin speculatus, the past participle of the verb speculari, which means "to spy out" or "to examine." Speculari, in turn, derives from specula, meaning "lookout post," and ultimately from the Latin verb specere, meaning "to look (at)." Other conspicuous descendants of specere are inspect and suspect. Some less obvious descendants are the words despise, species, specimen, and as you may have speculated, conspicuous.

Synonyms

Choose the Right Synonym for speculate

think, cogitate, reflect, reason, speculate, deliberate mean to use one's powers of conception, judgment, or inference.

think is general and may apply to any mental activity, but used alone often suggests attainment of clear ideas or conclusions.

teaches students how to think

cogitate implies deep or intent thinking.

cogitated on the mysteries of nature

reflect suggests unhurried consideration of something recalled to the mind.

reflecting on fifty years of married life

reason stresses consecutive logical thinking.

able to reason brilliantly in debate

speculate implies reasoning about things theoretical or problematic.

speculated on the fate of the lost explorers

deliberate suggests slow or careful reasoning before forming an opinion or reaching a conclusion or decision.

the jury deliberated for five hours

Example Sentences

She could only speculate about her friend's motives. He speculated as to whether she would come. We don't know what happened—we can only speculate. speculating on the stock market
Recent Examples on the Web Scientists can only speculate about what’s going on. Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 7 Sep. 2022 Fans jumped to the comments section to speculate on what could be happening. Katie Bowlby, Country Living, 7 Sep. 2022 Chalmers didn’t care to speculate on why more people are looking for jobs, other than rising inflation rates may be driving people back to the job market. William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, 6 Sep. 2022 Dicebreaker, reports the card was sold for $10,500 in April 2009 — though some speculate the card's existence is nothing but an April Fools' joke. Jacob Livesay, USA TODAY, 6 Sep. 2022 The monkeypox virus, which has now been diagnosed in hundreds of people in 26 countries, may have been quietly circulating for years before its sudden emergence worldwide, some scientists speculate. Benjamin Ryan, NBC News, 4 June 2022 Scientists speculate that the difference in sensitivity to social media could be linked to puberty, which normally happens earlier in girls. Nick Morrison, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2022 Some analysts speculate the kingdom and its partners have extremely limited spare capacity after ramping up their output in recent months. Evan Halper, Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2022 Some people speculate that the closures are a response to baristas’ efforts to unionize. Antonia Hitchens, The New Yorker, 30 July 2022 See More

Word History

Etymology

Latin speculatus, past participle of speculari to spy out, examine, from specula lookout post, from specere to look, look at — more at spy

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of speculate was in 1599

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