speculate

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verb spec·u·late \ˈspe-kyə-ˌlāt\

Definition of speculate

speculated

;

speculating

intransitive verb
1a : to meditate on or ponder a subject : reflectb : to review something idly or casually and often inconclusively
2 : to assume a business risk in hope of gain; especially : to buy or sell in expectation of profiting 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

speculator

play \ˈspe-kyə-ˌlā-tər\ noun

See speculate defined for English-language learners

See speculate defined for kids

speculate was our Word of the Day on 05/22/2014. Hear the podcast!

Examples of speculate in a Sentence

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 of speculate from the Web

In recent years, many have begun to speculate about the future of the monarchy, given how few members of the royal family remain.

— aria bendix, The Atlantic, "Japan's Lower Parliament Passes Law Allowing Its Emperor to Abdicate", 2 June 2017
Ten months into his tenure, however, General dela Rosa is still speculating that the murders by motorcycle-riding gunmen are drug dealers killing each other.

— aurora almendral, New York Times, "The General Running Duterte’s Antidrug War", 2 June 2017
Local restrictions mean investors often use offshore markets for non-deliverable forwards to hedge against losses or speculate on declines in currencies.

— netty idayu ismail, Bloomberg.com, "Human FX Traders Are Becoming a Rare Breed — Except in Asia", 1 June 2017
Investors speculating on the yuan in offshore forward markets started betting on sharper depreciation again in mid-May.

— nathaniel taplin, WSJ, "Yuan Rally Doesn’t Have Far to Run", 1 June 2017
The in-game announcers speculated that the issued between the two dated back to the 2014 playoffs, when Harper hit two home runs in a game off Strickland.

— creg stephenson, AL.com, "Watch Bryce Harper, Hunter Strickland both land punches in wild baseball fight", 29 May 2017
Icahn has also been personally speculating on financial instruments related to his push for changes in ethanol rules.

— david dayen, The Intercept, "Trump’s “America First“ Infrastructure Plan: Let Saudi Arabia and Blackstone Take Care of It", 27 May 2017
Wright sought such attention, Bergdoll speculates, because architectural historians were portraying him as a has-been.

— blair kamin, chicagotribune.com, "Frank Lloyd Wright's Mile-High skyscraper never built, but never forgotten", 26 May 2017
Pelosi, of California, didn’t speculate as to why Curbelo remains unopposed.

— amy sherman, miamiherald, "Pelosi: Someone will take on Curbelo. Democrats just don’t know who", 26 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'speculate'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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, "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.

Origin and Etymology of speculate

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

Synonym Discussion of 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

SPECULATE Defined for English Language Learners

speculate

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verb

Definition of speculate for English Language Learners

: to think about something and make guesses about it : to form ideas or theories about something usually when there are many things not known about it
: to invest money in ways that could produce a large profit but that also involve a lot of risk

SPECULATE Defined for Kids

speculate

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verb spec·u·late \ˈspe-kyə-ˌlāt\

Definition of speculate for Students

speculated

;

speculating

1 : to think or wonder about something
2 : to come up with ideas or theories about something
3 : to engage in a risky but possibly very profitable business deal

Law Dictionary

speculate

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verb spec·u·late \ˈspe-kyə-ˌlāt\

Legal Definition of speculate

speculated

speculating

intransitive verb
1 : to theorize on the basis of insufficient evidence Editor's note: A jury is not permitted to speculate on a matter about which insufficient evidence has been presented in reaching its verdict.
2 : to assume a business risk in hope of gain; especially : to buy or sell in expectation of profiting from market fluctuations
transitive verb
: to take to be true on the basis of insufficient evidence