SPECULATED Synonyms: 34 Similar and Opposite Words

speculated

verb

past tense of speculate

as in guessed

to form an opinion from little or no evidence I speculate that someone has been using this cabin as a trysting place

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of speculated Some have also speculated that Madeleine left the apartment looking for her parents and was killed in an accident, possibly struck by a car. — Frannie Comstock, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Oct. 2026 People have speculated that the new setup suits Antonelli’s driving style particularly well. — Sam Knight, New Yorker, 22 Oct. 2026 Scientists have previously speculated that a GRB would vaporize anything caught in its death rays up to 200 light-years from the source. — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026 Neighbors raised concern over the animal's behavior, and it was speculated that someone in the area could've been feeding it. — Austin Turner, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026 So much so that it’s been amply speculated his negligible production was about shortcomings. — Kansas City Star, 20 Oct. 2026 Some outlets speculated the muted rollout of Kalshi’s new partnerships was a response to the backlash the New York teams received, although the teams disputed that characterization to CNN Sports. — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2026 While a second film was long speculated about, the producer explained why an ongoing TV series was the approach that was taken for the property’s return. — J. Kim Murphy, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2026 Observers speculated that the Q3 results are likely to be extremely disappointing for the streamer, which is already facing some tough headwinds. — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for speculated

Verb

That Bell was the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was still known to only a handful of people, including Robert Louis Stevenson, who had by then guessed the truth.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2026
To keep potentially sensitive information from being accessible to unintended people, the URLs typically contain a long sequence of text that can’t be easily guessed.

— Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of guessed

Verb

Lukic, whose lab continues to scale up its medium-voltage unit, assumed the killer application for SSTs would be EVs.

— Alex Pasternack, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
If Cammarata is correct, then mechanistic interpretation may be more effective than many had assumed.

— Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of assumed

Verb

But physicists have long suspected that at a subatomic level, there is a something that inherently controls how fast these changes can occur.

— Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2026
By the 2000s scientists had detected thousands of GRBs, and researchers suspected they were being created by two classes of objects.

— Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of suspected

Verb

But their ballot is provisional, and it is not supposed to be counted until the voter is verified by state officials.

— Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Crystal was originally supposed to perform in the first-ever episode of the show in 1975, but his segment was ultimately cut for time.

— Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of supposed

Verb

Chris Costagli, a vice president and food thought leader at NielsenIQ, said high gas prices have worsened Americans’ concerns about affordability, and that's dampening demand for Halloween treats.

— ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
Primetime director Lance Oppenheim thought of Lipnicki for his latest role while rewatching Jerry Maguire as a reference point for the new movie.

— Mike Miller, Entertainment Weekly, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of thought

Verb

In a recent survey of the state of twee music, Mason Mann, a member of Josephine’s Next Million Miles—a newer act that owes a lot to the homespun indie pop of the ’80s and ’90s—surmised that the core of the genre was not joy, but pain.

— Colin Joyce, Pitchfork, 14 Oct. 2026
Meanwhile, it also might be surmised that the discretion has been out of respect for Simmons, who still is just 23 years old and whose pace of return ultimately is his story to tell.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 12 Oct. 2026