speculate

verb

spec·u·late ˈspe-kyə-ˌlāt

speculated; speculating

Synonyms of speculate next

intransitive verb

: to meditate on or ponder a subject : reflect

: to review something idly or casually and often inconclusively

: 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

: to take to be true on the basis of insufficient evidence : theorize

: to be curious or doubtful about : wonder

speculates whether it will rain all vacation

Did you know?

It might be said that what separates our species from others is our tendency “to meditate on or ponder a subject.” That's the original 16th century meaning of speculate. It's a use not too distant from today's most common sense, which also involves the mind and thinking: when someone speculates about something, they think and make guesses about it, often forming ideas or theories when there are many things not known about the thing. But the origins of speculate lie not in thinking but in looking—the word comes from Latin specere, meaning “to look,” or “to look at.” We don't have to look far to find other specere descendants, and we'll point them out here with some italics: a cursory inspection reveals spectacle, spectrum, specimen, and perspective. Less conspicuous are despise, prospect, and species.

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

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 on the Web After the child support settlement, for example, Ziegler posted the coordinates of Morris’s plane on his public Telegram page and speculated about Morris’s potential travels. —

Meryl Kornfield, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Sep. 2023 Paxton’s own lawyer, Dan Cogdell, has speculated that Paul, now facing federal charges, might face pressure to flip on his former friend. —

Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2023 In her life, Taylor Swift has done things waaay greater than dating the boy on the football team, but that won't stop people from speculating about those Travis Kelce rumors. —

Glamour, 16 Sep. 2023 Celebs Who Are Expecting Fans speculated Giddish was expecting this past spring after her Law & Order character, Amanda Rollins, showed up with a baby bump on an episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime. —

Angela Andaloro, Peoplemag, 14 Sep. 2023 Sports media star and former NFL punter Pat McAfee speculated his friend, Rodgers, wouldn't walk away from the game. —

Christopher Brito, CBS News, 14 Sep. 2023 Fans have speculated that the rapper intends to drop the LP around his birthday, Sept. 27, although Wayne has not yet confirmed anything. —

Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2023 Landis has been reluctant to speculate on the larger implications. —

Robert Higgs, cleveland, 11 Sep. 2023 Fans had speculated about the pregnancy for months because of Seewald's absence from her social media posts, which have focused on her kids. —

Kim Willis, USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'speculate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.