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
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Recent Examples of speculated
At the time, Shehorn’s friends speculated that she had been stabbed more than 20 times.
—
Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2026
Companies will test the boundaries Boyden speculated that offering different prices based on how much a customer uses a service, or advertising in particular ways to entice customers who are more likely to infringe, might constitute tailoring a service for piracy.
—ArsTechnica, 11 May 2026
The Alchemy could be named after the song on Swift's album The Tortured Poets Department, which has been widely speculated to reference the tight end.
—Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026
Each attendee at the show received a small piece of a painting in the lockable pouches phones were kept in; some fans have speculated that together, the fragments reveal Bridgers’ next album cover.
—Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 10 May 2026
Some shoppers speculated the dipping sauce may be responsible for a large portion of the calories.
—Kelly McGreal, FOXNews.com, 10 May 2026
Lee speculated that gasoline fumes ignited after the boat was started, causing the explosion.
—Drew Pittock, USA Today, 10 May 2026
Entin also speculated that people in the neighborhood are still nervous about what happened.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 8 May 2026
If the Vaile is sold, an estate sale will likely be held in order to keep up with maintenance costs, Fulmer speculated.
—Kansas City Star, 8 May 2026
Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2026
Companies will test the boundaries Boyden speculated that offering different prices based on how much a customer uses a service, or advertising in particular ways to entice customers who are more likely to infringe, might constitute tailoring a service for piracy.
—ArsTechnica, 11 May 2026
The Alchemy could be named after the song on Swift's album The Tortured Poets Department, which has been widely speculated to reference the tight end.
—Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026
Each attendee at the show received a small piece of a painting in the lockable pouches phones were kept in; some fans have speculated that together, the fragments reveal Bridgers’ next album cover.
—Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 10 May 2026
Some shoppers speculated the dipping sauce may be responsible for a large portion of the calories.
—Kelly McGreal, FOXNews.com, 10 May 2026
Lee speculated that gasoline fumes ignited after the boat was started, causing the explosion.
—Drew Pittock, USA Today, 10 May 2026
Entin also speculated that people in the neighborhood are still nervous about what happened.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 8 May 2026
If the Vaile is sold, an estate sale will likely be held in order to keep up with maintenance costs, Fulmer speculated.
—Kansas City Star, 8 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for speculated
Verb
-
And one of the true accomplishments of the Disney+ series’ creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest is that the answer was something no one would have ever guessed.—
Marcus Jones,
IndieWire,
11 May 2026
-
Avoid PINs that can be easily guessed, such as a string of the same consecutive numbers.—
Greta Cross,
USA Today,
6 May 2026
Verb
-
Israel said that al-Haddad had assumed the role of Hamas commander after his predecessor, Mohammed Sinwar, was killed.—
Samy Magdy,
Chicago Tribune,
16 May 2026
-
Even Anthropic has assumed a lot about its freedom and authority, having just announced a new tool called Mythos, an AI model that finds security vulnerabilities in software and networked resources.—
Olivier Sylvain,
Fortune,
16 May 2026
Verb
-
Arakawa is believed to have contracted the virus from the rodent droppings found around her and Hackman's home, while some of the infected cruise ship passengers are suspected to have gotten sick from each other.—
Kathryn Palmer,
USA Today,
11 May 2026
-
Six cases have been confirmed, with two others suspected.—
Michael Sinkewicz,
FOXNews.com,
10 May 2026
Verb
-
Not supposed to talk about affairs in Vegas?—
Payton Turkeltaub,
Variety,
11 May 2026
-
Gary Lineker once missed a game for Spurs because of an injury sustained in a cricket match he was not supposed to be playing in, and Gary and Phil Neville are still considered the ones that got away by Lancashire because of their cricketing prowess.—
Paul Newman,
New York Times,
10 May 2026
Verb
-
Chaotic terrain is characterized by fractured, jumbled blocks of rock thought to have formed when underground ice melted and caused the surface above to collapse.—
Samantha Mathewson,
Space.com,
15 May 2026
-
Returning last summer, I was reminded of the incredible detail and thought put into every element of the park.—
Zachary Laks,
Travel + Leisure,
15 May 2026
Verb
-
Offshore sourcing ecosystems for apparel are also deeply embedded after decades of Asia dominance, Kearney’s research surmised.—
Kate Nishimura,
Footwear News,
7 May 2026
-
Indeed, the writers surmised that the rocket engineer was so clearly the USSR's MVP that — had Korolev survived the botched medical procedure that killed him — the Soviet space program would have continued to outpace its American counterpart.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
1 May 2026
Verb
-
Human remains, not yet officially identified, were found this week in an Everman backyard during the investigation of the disappearance and presumed death of 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez.—
Lillie Davidson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
14 May 2026
-
Those born before 1957 are presumed to have acquired immunity, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.—
Finch Walker,
USA Today,
13 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Speculated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/speculated. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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