SPECULATES Synonyms: 34 Similar and Opposite Words

speculates

verb

Definition of speculates next

present tense third-person singular of speculate

as in assumes

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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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 speculates Another camp speculates that these forebears met human nomads on the trail of big game and started traveling with them, eventually arriving in China via Mongolia through their supporting role as war dogs. —

Andrew Norman Wilson, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026 Meanwhile, White speculates that the Hong Kong funds also got pummeled by headwinds in the Yen-carry trade—which made their financing more expensive—and exposure to recent convulsions in the silver market. —

Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 6 Feb. 2026 Christine Wilkinson, research associate with the California Academy of Sciences, speculates the coyote may have come from a pack that lives in San Francisco’s Coit Tower area, which has very little green space. —

Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 20 Jan. 2026 Mike speculates that their last look at Eleven was really Kali’s holographic illusion, which would explain why Eleven’s body seemed to vanish as the Upside Down exploded. —

Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 4 Jan. 2026 Lawson speculates that things may look different in the classroom 25 years from now with emerging technology, but that doesn’t need to be a bad thing. —

Nish Kohli, The Providence Journal, 3 Jan. 2026 Schneider also speculates that the YouTube-AMPAS pact will put pressure on the Television Academy to also deliver a game-changing deal. —

Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 18 Dec. 2025 The Post speculates that the capsule was potentially built by Timothy Oulton Studio, the designer of a very similar stainless-steel model spaceship for seating in Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in London — which is also weird but less sinister. —

Clio Chang, Curbed, 17 Dec. 2025 Windred speculates that there is extra stress put on both the cardiovascular system and metabolism by light when the body doesn’t expect it, and over time, that extra stress leads to damage. —

Veronique Greenwood, Time, 9 Dec. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for speculates

Verb

And one important consequence of this newfound chromatic primacy is that, in a work like Early One Morning, 1962, his sculpture assumes two very different experiences of form depending on one’s viewpoint.

— Gordon Hughes, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2026
One assumes that homeless folks would want to move indoors if given the chance, but this is not necessarily the case.

— Brian Barth, Mercury News, 27 Feb. 2026