speculate

verb

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spec·u·late | \ ˈspe-kyə-ˌlāt

speculated; speculating

Definition of speculate

intransitive verb

1a : 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

Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym Did you know? More Example Sentences Learn More About speculate

Synonyms for speculate

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

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.

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 Shawn Mendes is teasing new music as fans speculate a new album is on the way. — Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 20 Jan. 2022 The good news is that this makes for a great environment for savvy stock pickers like us, while folks who buy index funds or, worse, speculate on profitless tech stocks, NFTs and other gimmicks, will be left very exposed, indeed. — Brett Owens, Forbes, 19 Jan. 2022 The biographer does not speculate as to why Picasso was capable of great cruelty – such an assessment would require a deep dive into psychology, which is outside the expertise of an art historian. — Terry W. Hartle, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Dec. 2021 The virus picked up so many mutations so quickly that scientists speculate the variant might not have come from the average case of Covid. — Andrew Joseph, STAT, 30 Nov. 2021 Head coach Kyle Shanahan said both players would get an MRI exam Monday and did not speculate on how much time either could miss. — Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Nov. 2021 Although ski resorts can’t yet speculate on how busy this season will be, if the slopes follow the same trend as national parks and other outdoor areas, 2021-2022 could break even more records. — Washington Post, 17 Nov. 2021 Shane Huntley, director of Google TAG, says that the team doesn't speculate about attribution and didn't have enough technical evidence in this case to specifically attribute the attacks. — Lily Hay Newman, Wired, 11 Nov. 2021 Rather than speculate on the cause for the shootings, the mayoral candidates criticized their opponents for not paying closer attention to the phenomenon. — New York Times, 12 May 2021

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.

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Dictionary Entries Near speculate

specular reflection

speculate

speculation

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Last Updated

25 Jan 2022

Cite this Entry

“Speculate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/speculate. Accessed 25 Jan. 2022.

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More Definitions for speculate

speculate

verb

English Language Learners Definition of speculate

: 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

See the full definition for speculate in the English Language Learners Dictionary

speculate

verb

spec·u·late | \ ˈspe-kyə-ˌlāt

speculated; speculating