overspeculate

verb

over·​spec·​u·​late ˌō-vər-ˈspe-kyə-ˌlāt 

overspeculated; overspeculating

intransitive verb

1

: to assume an excessive amount of business risk in speculating on something (such as stocks)

overspeculated in real estate

… this is exactly the sort of imbalance that brings on big crashes. Why? Because those few very rich folks tend to invest in those same too big to fail banks that, without regulation, are incentivized to overspeculate.

—Jay Michaelson

2

: to engage in excessive theorizing about something : to speculate too much about something

Whether it's a press release, a tweet, an offhand comment, a blurry set photo, fans can be sure to gobble it up immediately as canon and overspeculate as to its importance.

—Kyle Warnke

But let's not overspeculate before anything has really happened.

—Colin Powell

overspeculation

ˌō-vər-ˌspe-kyə-ˈlā-shən 

noun

He dismissed the rumors as overspeculation about his friendly greeting.

—Monica Castillo

… financial crises—binges of overspeculation followed by panic and then recession or depression …

—Business Economics

Word History

First Known Use

1808, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for overspeculate

• borosilicate
• decontaminate
• deoxycholate
• deteriorate
• differentiate
• diisocyanate
• dinoflagellate
• excommunicate
• incapacitate
• insubordinate
• intercorporate
• interpenetrate